Forget Street Fighter. Balls to Tekken. You can keep Dead Or Alive, Soul Calibre and Mortal Kombat. For pure retro one-on-one beat-em-up joy, look no further than Konami’s 1985 arcade classic, Yie Ar Kung-Fu.

In fairness to all those other fighting games I’ve just carelessly dismissed, Yie Ar Kung-Fu is rather basic by today’s standards. Like so many games of the 80s, it has to be seen in the context of its time – back then, there were hardly any one-on-one brawlers, and certainly no Spinning Bird Kicks or Hundred Hand Slaps, no online competition modes or unlockable characters.

For sheer trailblazing originality, Yie Ar Kung-Fu is actually quite underrated. Technos’ Karate Champ beat Konami’s fighting game to the arcade by one year, with its pyjama-clad characters kicking and punching one another to a pulp in a sparsely sketched-in dojo, but it was Yie Ar Kung-Fu that contained most of the elements that we still associate with the genre today.

Its range of moves was, for the time, unprecedented, with flying kicks, punches and blocks all unleashed with simple combinations of a button press and one of the joystick’s eight directions. The game’s range of colourful enemies is now a familiar sight in modern fighting games, but was quite a novelty in the mid-80s – there were lumbering sumo wrestlers, various warriors armed with chains, clubs, swords and throwing stars, and a character called Feedle who could clone himself and attack from both sides.

My favourite aspect of Yie Ar Kung-Fu, though, is its camp atmosphere, which evokes an entire generation of straight-to-video kung-fu movies, from its Bruce Lee-a-like protagonist to its occasional flashes of Jackie Chan-style humour. An accurately-placed kick to the nether regions of lumbering wrestler Buchu results in a bulging pair of eyes and an incongruous speech sample ("ni hao” which, Wikipedia tells me, means “hello”).

Defeat an opponent, and they’re left lying on their back, legs in the air, like mortified road kill. As you make your way through the roster of bad guys, the introductory screen before each fight is littered with an ever-growing row of the thwarted.

Then there’s the jingly, faintly manic oriental theme tune, which matches the frantic pace of the combat perfectly. Yie Ar Kung-Fu isn’t the most refined or tactical fighting game ever made (its rock/paper/scissors mechanics are painfully obvious at all times, in fact, and most fights are won through a mixture of jumping, mid-kicks and a bit of luck), but its relentless, rapid-fire tempo is entertainingly comical.

As basic as Yie Ar Kung-Fu is by modern standards, it’s remained one of the fighting genre’s most enduring retro gems, appearing on all manner of platforms, from the ZX Spectrum to Xbox Live Arcade, and even spawning a rather perplexing website called The Faces Of Oolong, which I don’t fully understand.

Classic oddball shooter Sexy Parodius devoted an entire stage to the world of Yie Ar Kung-Fu, complete with an appearance from hero Oolong (who now wears pink trousers), and a fabulous rendition of the game’s sparkly theme tune.

Best of all, Yie Ar Kung-Fu is beloved enough to have spawned its own tribute rap, which really is too marvellous for words. “The pioneer of hand-to-hand fighting games, Yie Ar Kung-Fu! Yeah!”

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Having already showered Yie Ar Kung-Fu in nostalgic love in a previous Den of Geek entry, it would be downright rude not to acknowledge the existence of Konami’s other great fighting game from 1985, Shao-Lin’s Road, also known as Kicker.

A marriage of simplistic Kung-Fu Master-style combat and platformer, Shao-Lin’s Road was, if anything, a better, more addictive game than the influential Yie Ar Kung-Fu. Playing as a character who looks remarkably similar to Yie Ar’s Oolong, the aim is to clear each screen of leaping, high-kicking enemies.

Like classic run-and-gunner Rolling Thunder, released the following year, enemies suddenly appear from doors in the background, and since even the slightest touch from a bad guy will relieve your character of a chunk of energy, swift reactions are required to avoid them and deliver a defensive foot to the face.

After every third screen, a boss will appear, each boasting their own special moves and requiring several hits to kill. An athletic chap with a ponytail shows up, followed by a comely lady in a slinky dress, then a warrior in a Kabuki mask, a burly thug with a shield and chain, and finally a Brian Blessed look-alike in full kung-fu regalia.

In what appears to be a hallmark of Konami games circa 1985, the tempo of Shao-Lin’s Road is quite, quite mad. Accompanied by a warbling tune that rivals Yie Ar Kung-Fu in terms of 8-bit catchiness, Shao-Lin’s Road plays like the videogame equivalent of a Benny Hill sketch.

As assailants attack you from every angle – rushing in from the sides, dropping down from above or hopping up from platforms below – the overall feeling of panic and anarchy is almost giggle inducing. And the more hits you take, the faster the music and action gets, reaching a dizzying apogee of jangly music and leaping men in green trousers.

To even the odds, there are a series of superb limited-time-only power-ups, including little green laser bolts that emanate from your crotch, and a huge spiked ball that, if launched and then retrieved quickly enough, can be used as a powerful, homicidal yoyo that takes down entire rows of enemies at a time.

So dangerously compelling and addictive is Shao-Lin’s Road, it’s odd to note just how few other games emulated its ideas and manic energy. Sure, the game appeared on a few home computers at the time, and even lives on in Microsoft’s Games Room, but Konami never attempted to create a sequel to Shao-Lin’s Road, and its blend of platformer and knock-about violence doesn’t appear to have been replicated elsewhere.

There’s a vague whiff of Shao-Lin’s Road about Sega’s Shinobi, though that’s more like a ninja-themed Rolling Thunder than a close-quarters kung-fu platformer, with its throwing stars and scrolling levels.

To date, few 2D games have managed to replicate Shao-Lin’s pace or sense of claustrophobia. With everything occurring in one densely packed, barely scrolling screen, the feeling is of being trapped in an airing cupboard with a scurry of feral squirrels, and its precisely this joyous sense of chaos that makes Shao-Lin’s Road one of the most addictive, compelling games of 1985. A true arcade delight.

See Also:

• Shoot the Core: Looking back at Gradius
• Looking back at Konami's Green Beret
• The wonderful world of Yie Ar Kung-Fu

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Let me be upfront about this: I like Antz more than I like A Bug's Life.

Yet, in making that statement, I'm also happy to accept that the reason I'm disposed in that way is probably more to do with my age than the quality of each film. Antz has much more for the adult viewer, where A Bug's Life is much more kid friendly, I think.

That comparison aside, A Bug's Life demonstrated very well that Pixar certainly wasn’t a one-trick-pony when it arrived to very positive critical response in 1998.

A Bug’s Life came just three years after Toy Story, yet the increasing sophistication of the visuals and animation in it is far greater than that timescale would suggest.

For me, the film succeeds on a number of important levels, most of which are now Pixar trademarks, such as characterisation and humour. But it also has a lovely design aesthetic running through it, especially in the use of colour and the presentation of nature. From a CGI perspective, it broke entirely new ground in scene complexity and lighting.

From a technical perspective, it was certainly the lighting that stuck in my mind, and a night scene with a mechanical bird stands out in particular, delivering some terrific hues and shades.

Pixar's other great attribute is its ability to pick the perfect voice talent for its projects, and the star turn here is certainly Kevin Spacey as the villainous Hopper. It's also the only movie I'm aware of that has the previously untapped terror of death by cute fluffy chicks.

If the film has a weakness, it's in the predictability of what transpires, which isn't a surprise to anyone who's seen any version or variation on the Seven Samurai. But for youngsters who've not been schooled in the works of Akira Kurosawa, it's engrossing enough.

Which bring me to the Blu-ray release, which unusually for Disney these days, came on a single HD disc, with no DVD buddy to keep it company.

What can I say about the transfer? Flawless would be a good word. Animation can make for excellent digital transfers, but A Bug's Life is just stunning throughout. The richness of the palette that Pixar worked with is faithfully reproduced, and there is a crispness that many films would envy. It was so nice, I couldn't resist the temptation to keep freeze framing, just to admire the texture and fine details that are lovingly crafted here.

Pixar didn't take the audio for granted either, and the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround is as good as I've heard on any Blu-ray. I was impressed that it had maintained the channel separation that the movie presentation included, where off-camera characters are heard in the rear speakers, and not just in the dialogue source.

The DTS-HD is exclusively for English speakers, with French and Dutch getting basic DTS, and the Belgians Dolby 5.1 audio. There's also a stereo track in English describing the action for the visually impaired.

In the last few Disney titles I've reviewed, I've been underwhelmed by the number of extras, but this disc has broken that run, thankfully.

There's so much on here I'm not going to bore you with listing it all, but it contains everything we've so far seen on the DVD releases, and some of it is now presented in HD, but disappointingly not all.

Disney does make some amends for the SD extras by providing a couple of totally new pieces of material, which are exclusive to the Blu-ray and actually worth seeing. One is a Filmmakers’ Roundtable (21.00, HD), were John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, producer Darla K. Anderson, and producer Kevin Reher look retrospectively at the project in a candid way.

That's interesting, but the other special inclusion is A Bug's Life First Draft (10.49, HD), and this details the original concept for the film, which is totally unlike the finished piece. I'm of the opinion that extras should provide insight into the main feature, and these two featurettes genuinely do that.

I love animation, so it's a no-brainer for me to have this in my collection. For everyone else, is yours on order? If it isn't, it certainly should be.

Movie:

Disc:

A Bug's Life is out now and available to buy from the Den Of Geek Store.

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Thanks in large part to Guillermo del Toro, Luke Goss has been able to prove his acting ability in a number of geek movies. For me, both Blade II and Hellboy II went against the usual law of sequels to deliver superior films, in which Goss’ core roles involved performing with the added combination of prosthetics and physical action as characters Nomak and Prince Nuada.

We had the pleasure of talking to him about his new film Death Race 2, an origin story about the formation of the race itself, while taking the opportunity to talk about his other work, including getting a call from del Toro about The Hobbit, his cinematic heroes, and whether he’d be interested in The Expendables 2.

Death Race 2 is a huge amount of fun. It knows its market, is filled with all the action and one-liners you’d expect, while sporting a surprisingly strong cast.

Luke Goss plays the lead role of Carl ‘Luke’ Lucas, and proved to be an incredibly affable interviewee, his enthusiasm for his films and co-stars was brimming, as was his mission to be accepted into the geek community which, based on my time with him, is the least he deserves…

First, I just wanted to say congratulations on Death Race 2. I thought it was a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed it. Was it as much fun to film as it was to watch?

Firstly as well, I wanted to say I really like your site. Cheers man. I check it out a lot - it’s a great site! Yeah it was good, it was a lot of fun on set. It was kind of nuts really. We had all the cars on a hardware level, and as far as camera coverage and that side of production, it felt huge at times, and we were on a huge set to do it.

I had a lot of fun doing it, and also working with Roel [Reiné, director]. He’s a good friend, and I’m a big fan. And also, my personal make-up artist is from Cape Town, so I’ve done some other projects here before [Death Race 2 was filmed there], so the collective was really good - really fun to shoot.

I thought one of the greatest things about the film was the cast. There is obviously you, but then you had Sean Bean, Danny Trejo and Ving Rhames. Were they on board before you signed up? Or after?

I think after. I got asked to do the role, and I think in negotiations we were going to shoot at the beginning of this year and then previously, just before Christmas, we got the call from Universal saying did I want to do it. And then, I think, everyone else came on board later. The cast did build, and from my perspective, when I heard that Sean [Bean] was on, I was really stoked, as I’ve loved what he’s done and now having worked with him I thought, “what a great guy”.

And Ving obviously, one of the lines he had in Pulp Fiction is one of my favourite lines ever. “I’m about to get medieval on your arse.” I mean, what a great line. Danny Trejo is so bloody cool, I mean, he can just stand there and look cool. I felt very lucky to be a part of that little gang, you know?

Strangely enough, Roel and I are going to be producing a project together, that Danny is in as well, and it’s a two hander, so we are going to be doing another project together, Danny and I.

And Roel is going to be directing a feature that I have written and produced next year. We start photography in March, and pre-production in January, and Roel is directing that. We all ended up really getting along, all of us.

What was it that appealed most to you about the film? Did you get to do a lot of the stunts and the driving?

Yeah, I did. The first thing that got me going was the screenplay. I am not saying which one is better, but I do think there is a lot more story in this film, and I really love the screenplay with regards to... you know action is fun, but it’s nice to be tied in with a good plot.

I am a massive Steve McQueen fan, as is Roel, and I said, you know, if they could have the lead actor driving, then why the hell can’t we do it now? So I said, let’s get me in the car so the audience knows that I’m doing that. I said it just helps to frame [the shot] when, as a fanboy myself, I like to see people really doing it, so I did a lot of the driving. And the same with the fighting, I did about ninety nine percent of that for the same reason, and I was in the cage, doing fight training for about three weeks – it was exciting!

Were you a big 80s action movie fan, back in its heyday?

Yeah, to be honest with you. I was back in school then, you know, back in the early 80s I was a runt, so I was digging all the Stallone movies. I remember when I saw First Blood as a kid, I thought “Shit this is cool! I mean wow.” And that was when... I mean as a kid, I was such a scrawny little thing and I thought, “Shit, how do you even get like that?”

I still think that!

Oh you do? [laughs]

Yeah!

It has been hard to bulk up, but back then it was like “Wow, this is amazing!” And I loved Rocky and most of the Stallone movies. I guess I was more of a Stallone, Schwarzenegger fan, than I think the Van Damme kind of angle, but yeah, I was a massive fan of those, because that is all we used to watch.

You need to start spreading the word, and maybe you can cut in on The Expendables action?

[Laughs] Oh right! Although I think they have got that covered!

I was thinking you could say you’re a lucky charm for sequels, being in Blade II, Hellboy II and now Death Race 2!

Yeah, I could do that I guess! [Laughs] I have been lucky, because sometimes things go really pear shaped with a second or a third part, but I have been lucky enough to be in good sequels.

Obviously Blade II was fantastic, but how did your working relationship with del Toro get started?

The beginning was a little bit like a traditional Hollywood process, I guess. I mean, I thought it was going to be an audition and stuff like that - I got the screenplay... I did this movie with David Goyer called Zig Zag, and obviously David is the writer [of Blade II], and he said they’d been looking for their image of the Nomak character for a while, and he called del Toro and said “I think I might have found somebody,” so they sent me the screenplay.

I read it, and I was feverishly excited, because I had loved the first one. Then I met with del Toro. I walked into the room, and the casting director was there, and we were going to read, and he said “No, no, it is okay, we can just talk.” I thought “Okay, this is interesting”. An hour and ten minutes later, he said “Okay, good, I think you will be great!” and I looked at him and said “Forgive me, but for what?” and he laughed and said, “You don’t get it, it’s not just my say but...” so I think at that point he had made a decision about me, as a director.

All we did, I mean we didn’t read lines or anything, because Nomak isn’t a wordy character... I think it was more about concept, and how I viewed that role and how that character was going to be. We must have seen eye to eye on a few things, because I ended up doing it, obviously. But now our friendship is there - I mean, I don’t hang out with del Toro, I say that to people all the time. It’s not like I go for a few beers with him or anything, because we are both so busy. But now when he has something, and thinks you’re right for it, he just simply calls you as a formality, and that is great, because it reflects his confidence as a filmmaker.

With Hellboy it really was a case of getting the screenplay, then I picked up the phone and he said “Hey motherfucker!” and I said “I know who that is!” and he said “So you like it, huh?” and I said “Are you kidding me?”[Laughs]

I mean, that opening you had with Nomak in Blade II. That is one hell of a way to break into the film!

I know! Well it was funny, because on the page it doesn’t read visually so much, but I knew from what del Toro was shooting that this character was going to have a very different presence. I had no idea that when... I mean, I think it was that role that changed attitudes from being “Oh fuck, Luke Goss is playing that role,” and enabled me to more in your face, so now if I am on a shortlist for a role they’ll be very supportive and say “Oh fuck, he’ll be great!”

And I think that’s a credit to del Toro. I mean, I owe him a great deal, a massive part of my career, and whatever momentum I now have I owe to him. He is such a great friend, I thank him for being a supporter of me. An amazing chap.

He was obviously involved with The Hobbit for a while before it all got delayed because of all the problems, which have now been sorted out. I wondered if you’d lobbied for any part in that?

I did get a call from him, actually, with regards to, you know, come in and meet everybody and read some lines with regards to a particular role, which I didn’t ever mention, and it was definitely a big part, and a role I would have loved to have done. But obviously he then moved on from that project.

But yeah, there was a call, not an offer of course, because he then wasn’t on that project but... were you disappointed he left the project? Because I was, I mean just from a fanboy level I was...

Yeah, I was. But is there still a chance for you to push for a role?

I don’t know. That’s not my world at all. I mean, I know as much as anybody, but everyone has their reasons for why [they’re involved or not].

Which is more arduous, the physical workouts you have to do for films like Death Race 2, or the level of prosthetics for films like Blade and Hellboy II?

The makeup side of things is unbelievably draining. One, because of the actual process itself - anything more than four or five hours is just bloody horrible. But also, what people don’t realise is that, once you have done five or six hours, then you have to do a full work day, and I mean a full, full day. And it just drives you nuts when you are only getting three or four hours’ sleep a day - that’s it. And it just adds up, and can become a fairly miserable process, but luckily when you are playing that kind of character, you can use it.

I can only imagine what it must be like if you then did comedy, a comedic piece, or something where you have to be up and happy, I mean, fuck me, that must just be outrageous. But luckily, with someone like Prince Nuada, you come out, you’re exhausted, you’re tired, you’re weathered, you have all this internal pain about the story inside you, and then you really are that exhausted and miserable! You feel like “Shit, I’ve got to use this!”

A little bit of method from the process?

You have to, when your eyes are scratchy with lenses in and you have these teeth, your body hurts under all the armour, you definitely think “Well, this is how he feels, this is what it feels like to be Nuada, just physically,” and then it comes together more.

I read that you’re having to become a geek, bit by bit, because of the movies you’re in. How is that working out for you?

I think I’m truly baptised now! I am an absolute geek, without doubt. I just think, you know what, some of the most astute fans I know are film geeks, film lovers and watchers, and I am now proud to be one of them. So I am, hopefully, going to be accepted into the club of geek!

[I laugh] I’ll send you a badge, or something!

I want it! [Laughs]

All the best for the future!

Thank you, take care of yourself, and keep up the good work on the site!

Luke Goss, thank you very much!

Death Race 2 will be available on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK from the 27th December.

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For the first time in my memory of The Apprentice over the past years, we’ve come to a final where I’m really not bothered who wins. Both Stella and Chris have come across quite well, and I’m happy not to take sides this year. Form usually dictates that The Apprentice goes younger (and generally male), which made Chris the slight favourite going in.

For the first time, meanwhile, in the past few weeks, my Apprentice viewing isn’t accompanied by whatever wine happens to be on offer at my local Spar. Sadly, friends, it’s Lemsip Max Strength that’s my tipple of choice this week, and to add insult to injury, the task is coming up with an alcoholic beverage. They’re taking the piss out of me, here.

Once the task was set, then, it was the decision which, for me, generally has too much of an impact on the final task: which of the previous candidates to recruit? Stuart Baggs was notorious by his absence here, leaving Stella to pick Joanna, Chris F, Melissa (yikes) and Paloma. Chris, then, picked Jamie, Liz, Alex and Shibby. And then it was off to make spirits, for over 25s, with a retail price of £20.

Stella, then, wanted to go simple, with Joanna and Melissa pushing for whisky. Stella doubted that women would drink it at first, but went with a bourbon idea first and foremost anyway. Chris, meanwhile, was toying with flavoured drinks, and cocktails. Rum cocktails became the main thrust of the chat, with gooseberry and pomegranate-flavoured spirits winning.

Nick quickly noted that Stella’s drink was going quite male-centric, meanwhile, while Chris’ team was pushing towards the idea of Crown as a name of the drink. Wisely, he discarded Crown Jewels, and instead stated that he was keen to avoid artificial colours. As it turned out, Stella’s team was actively considering just that.

Stella put the idea of blue bourbon to marketing professionals, who quickly called bullshit on the idea. They did throw in the idea of adding something like cinnamon to the mix. Yum. Sounds great, that.

Chris’ lot headed off to a posh off licence, and seemed to be coming up with a slightly better plan. His clear rum idea, with the name Cubed tying into the idea of three different flavours, was decent. But neither team was on fire here.

Stella was struggling with a name too, and Honey And Spice seemed to be the leading candidate at one stage. Elsewhere, Cubed had been dropped by Chris, with Trio – not the 80s chocolate biscuit – mooted at one point. Stella, meanwhile, went for Urbon, as she headed to the bottle designers, and pulled a decent name out at the last minute. She then sent some of her team to sort the flavour out, next, and once more, it was refreshing to see just how natural the process of putting drinks together is. Ahem. Pass the white coats...

Back to the task. Neither drink sounded delicious, but Chris sat in front of his bottle designer, and came up with the name of his product there and then, too. A pyramid bottle design was being put together by Chris with clear liquid, only for Liz to change things at the lab. Chris wasn’t happy. I couldn’t really blame him. And once again, the failings of team mates look set to make quite an impact.

At least we’d got the products in place. It was Urbon vs Prism, and it was off to get the ads approved. I was missing my wine at this stage, as while this was, by this stage, a decent final, it was a surprisingly muted and dry one.

Chris, increasingly, was looking in trouble. He had no advert, and his product wasn’t as directed. It wasn’t looking good. Until in came the bottles, where his was, by some distance, the better.

Onto shooting the commercials, and Chris was struggling again, lacking a real idea. Stella, meanwhile, seemed to have a lot more urgency and more of a vision for what she wanted, and was impressing Nick. I, for the record, was still missing Margaret. Just thought I should say that.

Onto the presentations, after a bit of water-treading involving writing pitches and people arguing.  

Chris opened his presentation with dancing girls, before he took to the stage, and the mischievous editor promptly cut to a shot of a man looking like he was going to throw his guts up when he tried the drink. Then it was the advert, which was genuinely quite terrible and unfocused. “I hope you’ve had a chance to catch your breath”, said Chris. Gadzookz. I’ll take the Lemsip over the shit he appeared to be selling.

To be fair, he did a solid job with the presentation itself, and handled the questions well.

Stella’s presentation featured more dancers first, and from the off, she had a bit more punch about her. Her advert was quite basic, but it got the product across quite well, and had an idea to it. The bottle was good, too. Chris was probably a little better, but it was a tough one to call.

To the boardroom, then. Stella seemed to have edged the task slightly for me, but Chris fits the demographic of an Apprentice winner better. Would Baron von Sugar throw in one last surprise? And were the producers regretting the firing of Stuart Baggs last week?

Once the assorted previous candidates had put forward their thoughts, the Baron weighed in with his feedback. Chris' television advert was terrible, but his bottle was excellent. Stella's bottle was quite dull, but the branding and end product was much stronger.

The boardroom was a bit of an anti-climax, though. The thing is, both were clearly good. There was no nutter. Either one would be a fine choice. And thus the battle between Stella and Chris didn't really spark (although Stella did try and fuel it at one point). It makes it a more interesting business choice, but, for the producers, much less interesting television.

As it turned out, after a bit of waffle, Baron von Sugar opted for Stella. It was a tension-free last five minutes, though, which it really shouldn't have been. And I couldn't shake the feeling that this was a final episode that lacked any spark or impact.

The series as a whole? It's been good, with a couple of bumps. But the show is crying out for an injection of fresh ideas, rather than the increasing reliance on same-old, same-old.

For now, I can't help but feel that the single biggest improvement to the show over the past twelve months has been the hiring of Dara O Briain on You're Fired. That's surely the kind of masterstoke that Baron von Sugar should be looking for more of.

Still, well done Stella, commiserations Chris, and we'll be back again for more next year. Pass the Lemsip...

Read our review of the eleventh episode, here.

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Between new releases and expanding releases, there were five movies grabbing for a little extra box office noteworthiness this weekend. The biggest of these big deals was, of course, Tron: Legacy. After all, it's a sequel 27 years in the making, featuring some of the best special effects the wizards of Hollywood can come up with, starring one of the best actors of his generation. Then, there are the other movies which have crept out this weekend, from an animated talking bear to dueling ballerinas and a hard-luck tale of a working-class fighter and his troublesome family. Something for everyone? Something for everyone.

When it comes to the new and expanded releases, the big winner was Tron: Legacy. It debuted to strong box office numbers, bringing in $43.6 million in spite of stiff competition. Then again, it also has nearly 30 years of geek praise behind it, which helped to build the audience. Adding in the promise of 3D and jaw-dropping special effects, and it's no wonder the multiplexes were crowded.

Of the non-Tron new releases, Yogi Bear fared the best, while How Do You Know fared the worst. Yogi and Boo Boo take second place, with $16.7 million dollars; How Do You Know managed eighth on $7.6 million at the box office. Apparently, How Do You Know cost $120 million to make, which makes absolutely no sense to me at all. Maybe Sony needed a tax write-off?

Expanding films The Fighter and Black Swan also packed a punch, with The Fighter adding 2500 screens and packing on $12.2 million at the box office, for fourth place. Black Swan added 869 screens and took home $8.3 million, increasing its cash total while dropping to seventh place. I saw both this weekend, and both were great. Black Swan might be the best scary film of 2010. Shudder-worthy all the way through.

Among holdovers, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader continues to hold up surprisingly well. The latest, and possibly last, Narnia flick from Fox sits at third place at the box office on $12.4 million dollars. However, it didn't have the blast-off start that the series needed to ensure continued profitability in the US. Fortunately, the foreign box office is carrying this film, with the flick banking a staggering $123.6 million outside of the States. Still, something's got to change, and 3D hasn't been it for the series, which is facing both slacking audiences and critical indifference.

Last week's second-place movie, The Tourist, was also punished by the glut of newer, better releases. It picked up $8.7 million, but fell all the way to fifth. The $100 million dollar Depp/Jolie vehicle has picked up only $30.7 million at the box office, which is just more proof that a) Jolie by herself struggles to draw flies (Salt apart) and b) nobody wants to see Johnny Depp playing a relatively normal guy. Similarly, Tangled was punished by the loss of a great deal of its 3D screens, dropping out of the top five (sixth place, $8.67 million).

Ninth place Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 is the first movie of the weekend not to take in at least $8 million, but it's also over a month old and has already banked $265 million in the US (and nearly $825 million worldwide). Rounding out the top ten this weekend was Unstoppable, which is pulling to a stop with $1.8 million this weekend. It's sitting at $77 million US, and may pick up $80-85 million before it heads to the video store and Netflix queue.

Next weekend is the Christmas holiday, which means that there'll be a lot of big movies coming out. Chief among these is True Grit, at least for me. Also coming out are Little Fockers, which is firmly turning the dead horse into horse gravy, Gulliver's Travels (ugh), an expanding The King's Speech, and a further expanding Black Swan.

True Grit's going to kick ass...

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Back in August, we were so excited for the release of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World that we were utterly baffled by the lukewarm response that greeted the film at the box office. Now, four months later, our collective love hasn't dimmed - if our end of year poll is anything to go by, where it was placed second overall - and we're hoping it finds a new lease of life on DVD and Blu-ray.

To celebrate the home release, we had the chance to pick the brains of the director himself, Edgar Wright. This is a treat and a half, because, no matter what your misgivings with the film were (if you had any at all), Scott Pilgrim was the high-budgeted coming out party for one of the UK's most promising technical filmmakers, and Wright delivered what was, for better or worse, a true stylistic feast.

We were dying to ask him about working on such a lavish scale, breaking into the Hollywood mainstream after the independent British projects like Shaun of The Dead and Hot Fuzz, and what it's like hanging out with other self-proclaimed geeky filmmakers, such as Quentin Tarantino, Eli Roth and John Landis. And that's just what we did.

The DVDs for Spaced, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz are lovingly crafted, with the latter containing your amateur short film Dead Right as an extra. There always seems to be a personal interest involved - is that still the case with Scott Pilgrim? Was it harder to keep a handle on that, as it was such a major production, with the trappings of a big studio DVD release?

Not at all, because this is now the third time I’ve worked with Universal Home Entertainment on DVD after Shaun and Hot Fuzz. They were well aware that the previous discs were well received because of the TLC that had gone into the extras. So Scott Pilgrim was no different. Our production team were responsible for the seventeen hours of extras on the Blu-ray/DVD and we all worked really hard to make them as special as my previous discs.

Speaking of Dead Right, will we ever see your first feature film, A Fistful of Fingers, get a release?

Maybe. I am not so crazy about it, it’s a very silly film and while it’s got lots of things that make me smile about it, not least my school friends as most of the cast, but it’s not perfect and I find it harder to watch than Dead Right, even though one was shot on 16mm and the other on Video 8!

Why do you think that Scott Pilgrim and your work in general attract comments about generation gaps and 'geek' culture, even though they're quite accessible? Do you ever stop and wonder whether the in-jokes and references harm your films?

I think maybe some people read too much into them sometimes. It's certainly not meant to be a barrier and indeed the separate elements of Scott Pilgrim - romance, music, action, comic books, video games - are all pretty popular. I would hope that are not any in-jokes that stop the film dead, it’s certainly not my intention to that. I just wanted to make a film that was a blast to watch and listen to, with characters that you could identify with.

I think all of us at some point have been through the same ups and downs of love that Scott, Ramona and Knives experience.

Also, for a change, you weren't working with the Spaced alumni on this film. Instead, you were working with a bunch of quite young actors. What was it like being older than your cast?

It was a lot of fun. It actually reminded me of making the first series of Spaced. The cast were young and game and up for anything. It was really fun to bring together this little family on set and it’s really sweet to me that the whole cast  with no exceptions are still hang out together to this day.

Some of the fights, such as those with Matthew Patel, Lucas Lee and Todd Ingram, mirror the comic quite closely. But the showdown with the Katayanagi Twins is very different, with the spectacular battle-of-the-bands sequence.

Narratively, it is moulded to fit with the Sex Bob-omb throughline, with it being another stage on their quest for success. But then you've got the musical conflict between Cornelius and Beck, and the amazing CGI monsters duelling in the air.

Can you run us through the creative process behind that
scene?

It was partly based on an early idea Bryan had that was discarded, but really the change here was to make it so that not every fight had hand to hand combat. Also the Sex Bom-Omb’s arc is different to the books, I wanted them to be more present throughout the second half of the movie, so that their ascension through the Toronto music scene mirrored Scott’s fights with the exes. This setpiece was a way of bringing those two arcs together.

The film's music is fantastic, with the mixture of Godrich's score, the fictional bands' tunes by the likes of Beck and Metric, and the pop-rock soundtrack itself. When building the soundtrack, how much did you consult the comics themselves - which were already saturated with references and playlists - and how much did you bring your own ideas to the film? Were there any songs that you lobbied for inclusion?

The soundtrack was a mix of Bryan’s playlist tracks, and tracks from my own playlists that I used to send Bryan. Then on top of that we had all the amazing artists who composed songs for the soundtrack, some of the working directly with the material from the books. Then finally Nigel Godrich composed the score, his first. It was a embarrassment of riches and I’m really proud of it.

Eli Roth has spoken of how he introduced you and Quentin Tarantino to the Spanish horror film Who Can Kill A Child? and said you were quite taken by it. Do those geek-director film nights happen often? Have you shown or been shown a particularly cultish classic recently?

I did like Who Can Kill A Child and in fact immediately tracked down La Residencia (The House That Screamed) by the same director. I am always watching old films and trying to fill gaps in my knowledge. For example, I’d only seen El Topo for the first time the other day. When I am not working I try to watch more than one film a day if I can.

Lately I have also been very impressed with Shout Factory’s reissues of Roger Corman’s Cult Classics. They’ve done the most amazing extras for films that are actually pretty trashy. The making of documentaries for Humanoids From The Deep, Galaxy Of Terror and Forbidden World are absolutely fascinating. And on a geeky level I did teach Quentin Tarantino how to play the Leonard Maltin game from Doug Loves Movies, and we tried to out fox each other with our 80s sci-fi knowledge.

On Halloween night, you presented a show on BBC Radio 6Music. It was a great little special, especially the segment where John Landis came in and you chatted about American Werewolf in London, and, thankfully, refused to play Thriller. How did the show come about? Would you consider doing that more regularly? And did you just send a cheeky text to get Landis on the show, or was it more complex than that?

Yeah, it came together very simply indeed. I did a show for 6music last Christmas and they invited me back for Halloween this year. I recorded it in LA one morning and Landis was indeed contacted through a quick e-mail. It was a lot of fun and I hope I can more radio shows like it.

Edgar Wright, thank you very much!

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World arrives on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK on 27th December

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When I first heard about Gulliver's Travels starring Jack Black, during one of the Orange Wednesday adverts, I assumed it to be a rather amusing joke. The juxtaposition of rent-a-slacker Jack Black with a classic satirical novel made for a hilarious spoof of the way children's films have been headed in recent years.

Imagine my surprise, then, when this turned out to be a real film, out in cinemas this Boxing Day. I tried to reserve judgement. I've seen School of Rock many times, Tenacious D songs Tribute and Wonderboy are regular visitors to my MP3 player, and I even tried to like The Pick of Destiny. As I went into the screening, I was trepidatious - would it turn out to be a Christmas cracker, or a cold, dry turkey?

In a departure from every other role he's played since High Fidelity, Black stars as Lemuel Gulliver, a lazy, unambitious mail room worker with a heart of gold, who enjoys Star Wars and rock music.

In a bid to impress the object of his affections Darcy Silverman (Amanda Peet), Gulliver claims to be an experienced travel writer, and Darcy sends him off to investigate the Bermuda Triangle. But when his boat runs into a freak storm, Gulliver washes up on the shore of Lilliput, an island populated by tiny people.

He soon ingratiates himself with the island's population with another set of self-aggrandizing lies, earning their respect and adoration, and life seems pretty good as the Lilliputians set to work repairing his boat. But when his lies unravel, leaving the little people in big trouble, will Gulliver be able to save the day and get the girl?

If any of the above sounds achingly familiar, it should. Having realised that Jack Black wouldn't be a fantastic choice to play the heroic sailor of Jonathan Swift's novels, writers Joe Stillman and Nicholas Stoller have simply copied the narrative arc of Black's character in School Of Rock, crossing out the word 'children' in the script and replacing it with 'Lilliputians'.

The big problem with this, of course, is that the plot was pretty much covered the first time round. Black wanders competently through the script, hitting all the beats required of him, but with none of the passion or enthusiasm that made the earlier film such a joy to watch.

The rest of the cast are a mixed bag. The villain of the piece, General Edward Edwardian, is played by Chris O'Dowd, of The IT Crowd fame. While O'Dowd certainly doesn't embarrass himself in the role, it's a curious casting choice, and O'Dowd doesn't really have the presence needed to lend his confrontations with Gulliver any sense of menace.

He does have a few scenes where he gets to flex his comedic muscles, but his role is largely restricted to that of the generic bad guy. Fellow British comedy actors Catherine Tate, Billy Connolly and James Corden appear as members of the Royal Family, but their presence is likely to leave UK audiences baffled - none of them are given anything substantial to do here.

This comes as something of a relief; I don't know if director Rob Letterman has ever worked with British actors before, but all three deliver their lines in such a bizarrely-stilted fashion that it can only have been a directorial decision.

The Americans in the cast fare slightly better. Studio 60 star Amanda Peet puts in a likeable enough performance as the bog-standard love interest, and you almost believe that she would feel anything other than boredom and revulsion around Gulliver. Jason Segel, clearly just pleased not to be doing How I Met Your Mother for a few months, gives a good stab at making us sympathetic towards the Lilliputians, and he and Black strike up a believable friendship. The target of his desires is Emily Blunt, who suffers from the same stilted 'Royal Family acting' as Connolly et al, but is largely inoffensive.

Of course, the cast could be filled with the finest actors in the land, but it wouldn't mean anything without a decent script. And sadly, this is far from a decent script.

Stillman and Stoller took the scene from the book in which Gulliver puts out a fire by urinating on it, and used it as the template for the rest of the film. The jokes rarely rise above base level, with highlights including Jack Black in a dress, and Jack Black's anus falling onto a Lilliputian.

The few genuinely amusing scenes come from swipes at pop culture, with Be Kind Rewind-style recreations of popular films and a series of parody posters for films starring Gulliver in the lead elliciting a few proper laughs.

Gulliver's Travels is, of course, primarily a children's film, so I wasn't exactly expecting Four Lions. But in an audience full of children, there were no more than a dozen or so laughs, instead just a lot of awkward coughing and talking amongst one another.

This is obviously a loose adaptation of the book, but as time goes on it feels like desperation is sinking in. The story of Gulliver's journey to a land populated by giants is condensed into a five minute sequence which serves merely as a plot point to get Black away from Lilliput so that Darcy can show up, and the scenes in which O'Dowd builds himself a giant robot with which to fight Black feel forced and shoehorned-in at best.

But the real insult comes in the last ten minutes of the film. I'm not going to spoil it here, just to say that the resolution comes out of nowhere, is absolutely unsatisfying, and makes very little sense as an ending. I had my hands in my head during this segment, and looking around I was not alone. Even the children in the audience seemed as embarrassed as the cast on screen.

The script's failings are compounded by the bland visuals. The best that can be said about the CGI is that it is competent, and that at no point was I sat thinking "This was done against a blue screen". But what could've been a visual feast simply isn't. The design of Lilliput is, at best, flat, and no amount of post-production 3D can solve that. The 3D is barely noticeable here. Not for the first time, this is the sort of film where 3D could've given the film a real boost, but instead it feels like an unnecessary excuse to wear 3D glasses, which merely added to the discomfort of the experience.

It is a shame that we at Den of Geek have already had to submit our best and worst films of the year, as this would win the worst film award for me hands-down. For the best thing I can say about Gulliver's Travels is that it promotes the idea of staying at home as a family on Boxing Day instead of spending money at the cinema.

In short, if you refuse to see just one film this year, make that film Gulliver's Travels.

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'Irish' Micky Ward was one of the hardest men in the boxing game during his time in the squared circle. He never backed down from a fight, and what he lacked in speed, quickness, and defense he made up for with an ability to take punishment, a drive to win, and a liver-quivering left hook to the body.

This unique concoction of drive and gluttony for punishment comes, no doubt, from his family life, which is equal parts colorful and hard-luck. This tale, of a man's ability to transcend family problems and rise to great heights in his chosen profession is the centerpiece of David O Russell's star-studded new sports drama, The Fighter.

It's not a new story, by any means. A fighter comes from a humble background and somehow scraps his way to success. It's a story as old as that of boxing itself, with a new humble man becoming the people's champion with every generation.

However, Micky Ward's story is exceptional because it has played out in front of the world, thanks to the new media age in which we live. Ward's story is familiar to boxing fans, but not to the public at large. This movie should change that. (I'd like to think that in a world post-The Blind Side, a sports movie doesn't have to have a limited audience.)

That said, one of the flaws of The Fighter is one that was held by The Blind Side, too, another sports film about a talent overcoming his own upbringing and familial demons.

Micky Ward, like Michael Oher, is a bit of a cypher. Ward, being a middle child, was undoubtedly overlooked in favor of his many sisters and flamboyant older brother Dickey. This comes through in the film, with the fairly soft-spoken and normal Ward being outshined by his girlfriend and incredibly insane family. I'd imagine this is a fairly accurate portrait of Ward, who always talked very little and punched very hard during his boxing career.

That's unfortunate for Mark Wahlberg, playing Ward, who does acquit himself very well when he gets his moments. It's wonderful for the movie's rich supporting cast, including a stellar Christian Bale, magnificent Amy Adams, and impressively loving-yet-loathsome Melissa Leo.

Of the many impressive performances in the film, and it's well-acted from top to bottom, Leo's take on Alice Ward is staggeringly good. She's the mother (or mother-in-law) from hell, all cigarettes and manipulation, but done for your own good of course. It's uncomfortable at points, because it's so squirmingly guilt-inducing. It oozes off the screen with every Marlboro sigh, and snuffly threatened tear. Yes, she's a horrible person, but she thinks that she's doing the best for her boy Micky. She's probably the villain, but only by default. It's not as though she's acting out of malice, she just doesn't know better.

Perhaps the most important character in The Fighter is Christian Bale's Dicky Eklund, rather than the movie's subject. Dicky is Ward's older half-brother, mentor, and albatross all at once. Dicky is a phenomenal mind and knows boxing better than anything else, except for where to score crack. Yes, Dicky was a crack addict, and the real-life Dicky was the subject of the amazing HBO documentary High On Crack Street.

Bale not only completely nails Eklund's flamboyantly entertaining personality, he also does a great crack addict. Bale's energy, his constant movement, his fast-talking, his expressions and sniffing... Bale's doing some wonderful physical acting with this role, which is one of his strongest traits as an actor, but taken to another level here. He's incredible as Dicky, who is an incredible character in his own right. After his recent missteps, it's refreshing to see that Bale the actor is still capable of a captivating, moving performance.

Of crucial importance in a movie like this is the look. I remember Micky Ward's fight versus Shea Neary, and everything from the movie fight looked familiar. Apparently, they hired the HBO crews and used 90s-era cameras to get the look of the fight right, and they did an incredible job.

I was worried the entire time about the quality of Mark Wahlberg's left hook, and while it's not nearly as good as Ward's real-life punch, it's good enough for me not to complain about it. The boxing action is really well-done, which can be tough for a movie to film. David O. Russell's decision to turn most of that over to the experts was a great idea. They even recycle a lot of Harold Lederman and Jim Lampley's commentary from Ward's actual televised matches, which thrilled me because several of the lines I remember vividly from the fights were reused in the movie.

Still, Russell's portions of the film are handled with his particularly deft style, without the trickery he used in Three Kings. The movie runs just under two hours (115 minutes), but I didn't notice the runtime while I was watching it. Russell shoots the movie very well, using Ward's seven sisters as a combination peanut gallery/Greek chorus.

The blocking of the family scenes is a stand-out of a very well-constructed movie. Nothing lingers too long, and the head/body, head/body fighting style that made Ward is echoed in Russell's fighting/family, fighting/family shooting style.

The script is also pretty evenly balanced between boxing and family drama. The film's writers, Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson, mine Ward's real-life story for movie drama. There are some inconsistencies with reality, like the elevation of the WBU titles to major importance and a .com address on the ring, but aside from that, there's nothing to complain about.

They really nail Dicky Eklund's character. and the war for Mickey's career, between his well-meaning girlfriend Charlene and diligent trainer Mickey O'Keefe (playing himself), along with his well-meaning(ish) mother Alice and talented/troubled tactician Dicky, is skillfully scripted. Nobody's entirely good or entirely bad. Even the horrible Alice isn't a bad person, just not, ahem, the most deft handler of people (or, perhaps, too deft at handling people).

I have to admit to being biased. I've loved Micky Ward since the first time I saw him fight on television. He had so much heart, so much will to win, and the most determination to make the most of every fight of any fighter I've ever watched. There was never a Micky Ward fight where he gave up: he might get beaten, but he wasn't going to quit and when he threw that left hook from hell, it hurt his opponents so much that I got sympathy pains.If I could learn to throw any punch, it'd be that one left hook to the body.

As a fellow Irish-American, Micky became my fighter, my guy. From Micky I learned to love Arturo Gatti, the Italian version of Micky Ward. From those two guys, I became a life-long boxing fan. Since this movie tells Micky's story in a fairly accurate way (aside from leaving out some of Dicky's recent brushes with the law that may or may not have happened since filming wrapped), I'm a fan of it, too.

Even if you're not a boxing fan, The Fighter should be on your list of things to see. It's a movie that transcends the limited audience of the sport it covers thanks to a universal story brought to life by some of the best actors working right now. It's a movie about a fighter that's almost as good as the fighter himself.

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It’s been six months now since the television adventures of Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer ground to a halt in 24. But there was always the olive branch of a movie, which was being talked up around the time. Furthermore, Billy Ray (Shattered Glass) had taken a stab at the script, and there seemed to be progress.

There isn’t any more.

According to Assignment X, who spoke to executive producer Howard Gordon, the brakes have been applied to the project. Gordon revealed that “There was a script, but ultimately it wasn't the right proposition. It wasn't strong enough or compelling enough to the studio obviously to move ahead with it”.

Oh dear.

There is one glimmer on the horizon, though, and it involves Tony Scott. According to Gordon, “Tony Scott has an idea that he is going to run it by or has run it by Kiefer Sutherland. I don't know what the status of it is.”

Scott has long been linked as a possible Bond director in the past, and this may be the closest he gets to it. He doesn't strike us as the finest choice for the movie, though.

Plus, given that Fox had its fingers burned with its last TV-inspired blockbuster, The A-Team, we wonder if it might just be tightening its purse strings in the foreseeable future, and whether there’s a place at all for Jack Bauer in its upcoming movie slate. Time will, of course, tell…

Assignment X

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As we head into awards season, the likes of Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter are hotly tipped to pick up nominations at the very least, if not actual gongs for their acting in The King's Speech. Christian Bale made a big old physical transformation for The Fighter, as did Natalie Portman for Black Swan. But those two films won't come out until 2011 in the UK, and nor will The King's Speech.

The tendency is to award stuff that comes out at the very end of the year, and so a lot of good performances earlier in the movie calendar are forgotten. Most of these actors didn't undergo gruelling physical transformations or star in the kind of film that Oscar likes to reward. They were just good. Maybe not Oscar good, but they were undervalued, either in reviews or just within the films in which they played.

Here are ten performances you haven't been thinking about all that much in 2010.

Jim Carrey – I Love You Phillip Morris

I Love You Phillip Morris was sitting on the shelf for a good while before it was released in the UK back in March, and it's only just made its Stateside debut this month. Whether there's a stigma against the film's subject matter or not, I've been saying since I saw the film that Carrey does a fantastic job as the homosexual family man who becomes a conman to pay for his extravagant lifestyle after coming out.

The film goes to pains to remind you that this is based on the true story of Steven Russell, but even if it weren't, Jim Carrey sells the hell out of the character. He sinks to hideous depths to get what he wants, but he's so good at getting it that he's a riveting character. More than that, it sells the romance angle with his titular soul mate Phillip Morris - you root for their relationship even in spite of Steven being a total bastard.

Jackie Chan – The Karate Kid

To many fans of the original, it does not exist in this dojo, but the remake of The Karate Kid seemed to win most people over. The reason for this was obviously Jaden Smith, compounded by his totally suitable collaboration with Justin Bieber over the end credits. Sarcasm on, sarcasm off. Nope, for me at least, it was because of everybody's favourite martial artist/actor, Jackie Chan.

What's happened over time is that he's become a better actor in the English language - as good as he is in his native language, in fact. In The Karate Kid, he was the only point I could connect with, bringing the pathos as well as the slapstick we love him for. If I had to be beaten up by a movie star, I'd like it to be Jackie Chan. It would still hurt, but at least it would be more fun than being mashed to bits by Stone Cold Steve Austin or Jason Statham.

Clark Duke – Kick-Ass

Not Aaron Johnson, or Nicolas Cage, or Chloe Moretz, or Mark Strong or Christopher Mintz-Plasse or even Jason Flemyng. Don't get me wrong, they were all excellent in what was one of the year's best films, by my reckoning. But no, I'm talking about Dave Lizewski's buddy Marty, played by Clark Duke. I saw this film four times in cinemas and of everyone, Marty consistently got laughs every single time he was on-screen.

I firmly believe that Clark Duke is one of the most exciting young actors working in comedy today. Outwardly, he's pretty harmless and, well, round, but the guy is really, really funny. In Kick-Ass he steals several scenes with his comic timing, getting laughs even without saying a word at a peak in the tension of the main plot. He also gives great comedy performances in Hot Tub Time Machine and the somewhat-underrated but terribly-named Sex Drive, and here's hoping his star continues to rise in 2011.

Patrick Fabian – The Last Exorcism

To me, he's this year's Sharlto Copley in District 9, in how his awesomeness totally blind-sided me. Why have so few critics picked out this performance? Fabian plays the man who's looking to expose professional exorcism as the modern day answer to snake oil salesmanship that it is, and he plays a character who's lost his faith brilliantly. It makes it all the more effective when he's faced with a real possession.

I don't rate the ending of the film as badly as everybody else seems to, especially as I think people focus on the wrong part of that final twist. Ambiguity is an ending that worked for Inception, but I don't think it would have made a fitting conclusion where so much of the film was ambiguous already. Either way, Patrick Fabian gives one of the finest horror movie performances in recent memory, and not one that should be overlooked because of the type of film it appears in.

Olga Kurylenko – Centurion

Neil Marshall took the Magnificent Seven approach in casting a fine ensemble of great actors as his straggling Ninth Legion survivors. Michael Fassbender continued to lend his talents to less obvious fare than most of his calibre, and there were also great shows from the likes of David Morrissey, Noel Clarke and Liam Cunningham. The problem is, they're kind of outshone by Olga Kurylenko.

As Etain, she's a character whose tongue has been cut out, and so the full range of her vocal performance is to grunt and occasionally scream bloody murder as she scythes through a troop of burly Roman soldiers. She's utterly magnetic though, and clearly the most important person on screen whenever she turns up. Not bad for someone who doesn't say a word.

Kayvan Novak – Four Lions

It's difficult to hate a suicide bomber who just wants to jump the queue to get on the Rubber Dinghy Rapids. As the clueless Waj, the part-time Fone/Facejacker is one of the very best things about Chris Morris' poignant satire. Novak is part of the reason why Morris pulls off the risky act of humanising terrorists.

His naivety as he blindly succumbs to the whims and zealotry of his mates is one of the more affecting parts of the film, but his idiocy is also very funny at points. He clutches The Camel Who Went To Mosque, the only book he's ever started, and picks on targets like Mini Babybel. Novak brings it to life in a way that makes you glad you're laughing, because otherwise you might be crying.

Alison Pill – Scott Pilgrim Vs The World

As with certain players in Inception, it can be seen that actors who do a great job in an ensemble piece don't get as much notice, because not one of them is bigger than the movie as a whole. Take Alison Pill for instance. Even in those reviews that did take time to praise the supporting players within Michael Cera's OTT monomyth focused on Kieran Culkin's Wallace Wells or Ellen Wong's Knives Chow, or Brandon Routh's Todd Ingram.

Allison Pill plays Kim Pine, a character who suffers for most of her back story from the comics having been cut out of the film. A necessary cut when you're condensing six books down into one film, but she's more than capable of picking up the slack. Whether screaming Sex Bob-Omb's battle-cry or giving a well-timed death stare across a room, Kim is an electric presence in a film that's chock full of villains who explode into coins. Bravo.

Ryan Reynolds – Buried

It's an odd choice, this one. When Buried came out, much of the acclaim was around Ryan Reynolds' acting, mostly because he's the only actor we see on-screen in the entire duration of the film. And rightly so. He's brilliant, making you want to stay with him even in a meticulously constructed claustrophobic nightmare setting that you're dying to get out of.

So why 'underrated'? Well if Patrick Fabian is this year's Sharlto Copley to me, Reynolds is this year's Sam Rockwell. That's because I reckon Sam Rockwell should have won the Oscar for Best Actor earlier this year. Instead, he didn't even get a nomination. So I mean it in the nicest way possible when I say that Reynolds gave a performance so good that the Academy are bound to ignore it, especially with James Franco doing a similar 'I'm trapped' turn in 127 Hours.

Emily Watson – Cemetery Junction

She was one of the more universally lauded parts of this rather more serious outing for Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, but the film happens to be one of the more underrated efforts of the year, so she gets a special mention. Emily Watson is just tremendous in this, and I struggle to think of another film where she's as good as she is here.

As the good wife to a misogynistic and business-addled Ralph Fiennes, she is utterly compelling. Watson's not in the film all that much, but she always leaves a huge impression when she wistfully leaves a cup of tea at her husband's side. Her character is so much of what our bright young heroes dread becoming – repressed and downtrodden by society's expectations – but Watson is absolutely magnificent.

Forest Whitaker – Repo Men

How many actors have won an Oscar in the last decade and then continued to up their game? To be slightly more specific, what was the last good Halle Berry film you saw? Whitaker won for playing Idi Amin in The Last King Of Scotland, but didn't let it go to his head. In Repo Men, he's Jude Law's sidekick turned pursuer, and he comes across here as a gleeful mix of the doggedly loyal Danny Butterman from Hot Fuzz and the bat-shit crazy Bennett from Commando.

You could be forgiven if you forgot this one, as it's part of a distinctly sub-par action flick that blatantly rips off the ending of a certain Terry Gilliam film. A Terry Gilliam film that's approximately a million and one times better than this, no less. Still, Whitaker's turn is what will make it worth a watch if you ever spot it rattling around on Sky Movies or after the News at Ten on ITV somewhere down the line.

I for one was frustrated to see that these performances didn't get more kudos, so it must be maddening to see if I missed out any performances that you particularly hoped to see in an article called 10 underrated performances of 2010.

If you want to advocate an undervalued player, leave your suggestions in the comments! Let’s see if we can't get them an award nomination of some kind...

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One of the most fun parts of Scott Pilgrim is finding out how deeply ingrained you are in the target audience by trying to catch every reference, allusion and shout-out in the film. Some are obvious, some less so – here, we’ve compiled a few from almost every medium referenced in the film. Are you geek enough to have spotted them all?

1. X-static

In the movies, like the comics, Scott wears a round ‘X’ insignia on his arm, but unlike the comics, he’s never pressed to explain its relevance. Even before they’ve read the first Scott Pilgrim book, hardened geeks will know that, obviously, Scott wears this logo because he went to Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. The patch does still get its moment in the movie spotlight, though, when Scott tears it from his arm while trying to escape the shadow of the ‘X’es around him.

Bonus X-Men reference: When the fourth Evil Ex, Roxy, teleports herself around with her (half-)ninja powers, the special effect is uncannily similar to Nightcrawler’s from X-Men 2.

2. A link to Link (several, in fact)

There are few gaming protagonists as popular as the 8/16-bit stalwarts, Mario and Sonic, but undoubtedly, Link, the green-clad hero of the Legend Of Zelda games, is up there. The Scott Pilgrim movie has barely started when the initial narration segues into the opening musical cue from 1992 SNES RPG, A Link To The Past. Moments later, Scott answers the door to Knives, eliciting a pair of Zelda sound effects, and shortly after that, the sketchy visuals of the opening credits provide our first glimpse of Gideon’s inverted Tri-force-referencing GGG logo. If there was any doubt who this movie was aimed at, these references eliminated it very early on.

Bonus Zelda references: From its mention as Neil’s favourite game, to the Dark Link-inspired look of NegaScott, there are too many Zelda references to count without watching the whole movie looking just for them. You could probably do a top 10 of Zelda references alone.

3. Final Fantasy II (or IV)

Nothing exposes an embarrassing attempt to look cool than when something attempts a reference, then immediately fouls up, making it clear it has no idea what it’s talking about and is just attempting to cynically trade off the currency of cool. By contrast, Scott Pilgrim is meticulous in its details. When Scott claims to be playing the bass line from Final Fantasy II, he’s actually playing the bass line from Final Fantasy II (which, as we all know, is actually Final Fantasy IV in Japan.)

4. Culture Clash

The name of the band fronted by Natalie 'Envy' Adams (played by Brie Larson in the film) is, as we all know, The Clash at Demonhead. This is a two-for-one reference. The name itself comes wholly from the 1990 NES beat-‘em-up, The Clash At Demonhead, but also forms a pun based on the name of seminal British punk band, The Clash.

Bonus band name references: All of the bands named in the Scott Pilgrim world refer to games. Envy once sang in one of Scott’s earlier bands, Kid Chameleon, alongside Stephen Stills and Steph Nordegraf, and Scott’s first band (which he played in with Kim Pine) was called Sonic And Knuckles.

5. Just deserts

Fancy another combo-reference? How about the lonely desert landscape Scott visits when he’s killed? It manages to recall the ending of Final Fantasy VIII, and Oliver Stone’s Doors biopic The Doors, via Wayne’s World 2 (in which Wayne often found himself plunged into a very similar-looking landscape to converse with Jim Morrison and “a weird naked Indian”).

Is it referencing both, one, or simply going back to the first principals of a desert vision quest? We may never know. Unless Wright reveals it on one of the DVD commentaries.

6. Launchpad McQuack saves the day!

Although the film’s soundtrack calls the song We are Sex Bob-omb, the first song the band plays in the film is given as Launchpad McQuack, which is – of course – a reference to the Disney character of the same name, who served initially as Scrooge McDuck’s personal pilot and bodyguard, and later as the sidekick to the original terror that flaps in the night, Darkwing Duck.

Of course, comic readers will know that Launchpad McQuack is one of the few Sex Bob-omb songs that Bryan Lee O’Malley included chords and lyrics for in the books – although unfortunately, the movie version, composed by Beck, bears no noticeable resemblance to it.

7. More like Gothic LOLita

Although Kim Pine’s role in the film was sidelined substantially from the comics, she did provide a huge amount of comic relief in the film – no more so than when, for the climactic battle, she dresses in the Japanese Gothic Lolita fashion, which involves wearing dark-coloured, Victorian-inspired clothing, emphasising beauty and cuteness over sex appeal. Her deadpan delivery contrasts with the elaborate outfit, as well as the stereotype of typically perky and upbeat Japanese teens. Is it explained where her outfit’s inspiration comes from? Is it hell. You’re a geek, you should know this stuff already.

8. Don’t need no more!

When Chris Evans was announced as Lucas Lee in Scott Pilgrim, most people immediately remembered him for his... performance as Johnny 'Human Torch' Storm, from the dire Fantastic Four films (although these days, he’s best known as the future Captain America, proving that in the Marvel Universe, even box-office death isn’t the end). When Scott finally defeats Lee, his T-shirt switches to the Fantastic Four logo in the following scene. Although as comic readers will know, his Fantastic Four logo isn’t the one worn by Reed, Sue, Johnny or Ben, but the 'Four-and-a-half' logo, which was worn by Franklin Richards, the son of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, when he was a toddler.

Bonus T-Shirt reference: Scott’s Plumtree t-shirt references the band that originally wrote the song Scott Pilgrim, from which O’Malley took the character’s name. It brings about a circularity which reminds us that this whole cultural phenomenon isn’t just celebrating a love of geeky references – it’s entirely founded on one.

9. Take a Wii

Could it be that the infamous Pee-bar urination scene in Scott Pilgrim is actually a reference to 1987 Amstrad/Spectrum-based git simulator, How To Be A Complete Bastard? After all, it was almost certainly the first game to include a health bar specifically for your character’s urine supply (called a Weeeometer). To be honest, it’s more than likely just a coincidence - but it’s such an obscure game, we felt like mentioning it anyway to prove that we’re hardcore nerds. After all, isn’t that the point of references?

10. Comedy about nothing

Eager to prove that he was capable of truly adapting Scott Pilgrim to a new medium, rather than dutifully transferring page to screen with no idea of what made the material work in its original medium, Wright added a few references of his own, none more inspired than the point where the movie briefly turns into an episode of Seinfeld, complete with the correct musical cues, an audience laugh track and – of course – fixed camera direction reminiscent of all audience-based sitcoms. Mr Wright, you’re a genius!

Bonus film references: Fans of the comics probably caught all of the videogames, T-shirts and comics references through sheer familiarity with the source material – but how about other stuff Wright added, like the Flash Gordon sound effects, or The Big Lebowski “This is a league game” reference?

Admittedly, there’s a lot we haven’t covered, but if we tried to include everything it could go on and on. With that in mind, why not impress us by pointing out something truly obscure that we missed? Forget all the obvious stuff. Bonus points if you can name the origin of Lucas Lee’s ‘Incoming text’ sound!

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World arrives on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK on 27th December

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Back in the 80s and early 90s, the Police Academy series of films became increasingly maligned for their dependence on recycling the old jokes from film to film, and effectively putting their characters through the same motions.

For my money, Meet The Fockers, the massively successful sequel to Meet The Parents, did exactly the same thing. Once again you had Robert De Niro as the retired CIA operative Jack Byrnes, who once again found some fairly forced reason to distrust the love of his daughter’s life, Greg ‘Gaylord’ Focker, played by Ben Stiller. It was cynical recycling, that struck gold at the box office, and became a massive hit.

Hence, Little Fockers.

For the first 20 minutes, though, there are threats that Little Fockers might actually be willing to offer some form of narrative progression. In fact, the early part of the film is quite promising. We meet De Niro’s Jack Byrnes again, this time contemplating his own mortality, and who will ascend to be the – nnnghhh – ‘Godfocker’. It’s a terrible gag, but the film then flirts with switching Stiller and De Niro’s roles around, offering some hint of character development for both of them.

Sadly, possibly as a result of rewrite hell, the idea is as swiftly abandoned as it is mooted, and the feared-for lazy sequel unfolds before your eyes. Everyone knows their place. De Niro is paranoid and pretty unlikeable (in fact, scratch that: Jack Byrnes becomes quite a horrible character, and why anyone would put up with him is beyond me), Stiller gets into compromising moments, Teri Polo as Stiller’s wife has her usual moment of doubt, and the senior Fockers, played by Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman, get to do pretty much what they want.

The additions to the mix this time around? Well, Owen Wilson has a significantly beefed up role this time around as Kevin (which he makes a decent fist of), while Jessica Alba walks off with the most two-dimensional character of the year award for Andi Garcia (see what they did there?). You also get five-year old versions of the Focker children, Harvey Keitel in a bizarrely irrelevant cameo, and Laura Dern, at least having a bit of fun as the head teacher of a school that the aforementioned children might be going to.

They’re all jumbled together, then, in a film that feels cobbled together from lots and lots of different drafts. Thus, for every nod to The Godfather or Jaws, there’s a fart gag, a character cut short, a 'we're not gay really' joke, or a quick photocopy of something that appeared in the earlier films. Furthermore, the last-minute weaving in of Dustin Hoffman into the film (he was written in only when the reshoots came along) sticks out like a proverbial sore thumb, as the majority of his and Barbra Streisand’s minimal scenes are separate from everything else. And, ultimately, add little to the film.

Yet there’s a bigger problem here. For it’s genuinely hard to think of a comedy in recent times that’s relied on such a collection of forced contrivances to generate its situations. There’s nothing really natural about it, and the narrative’s job here feels like it's to link you from sketch to sketch using whatever it can find at the bottom of the drawer. Director Paul Weitz, no slouch when it comes to directing comedy, does his utmost, but he’s working from a script (or scripts) that proves impossible to weave much from (and that signposts most of its jokes).

On the plus side, and this is where Little Fockers lifts itself from outright mediocrity, at least the cast give it a very, very good go. Ben Stiller does a lot of heavy lifting here, and along with Blythe Danner, Teri Polo and De Niro, too, gamely makes as much as possible out of not very much. And as a result, there are a few scattered giggles to be found throughout the film.

But heck, you have to fight for them. Because after some initial promise, Little Fockers sadly proves content to follow its predecessor and take the lazy way out. It puts its characters through the same wrangles, with the same results, and then happily paves a way for a potential fourth film in the series to follow.

And that’s the surest indicator of what the main objective was here. It’s not to deliver the kind of laughs that the original managed, because it never threatens to do that, and never has the ambition to try anything new. Instead, it’s to inject longevity into a massively lucrative franchise, one that has some kind of premium status because of the cast it attracts.

It’s hard to read it any other way, sadly: this really is the new Police Academy franchise. It just gets away with it because it happens to have better actors on board.

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Many years ago, when I was living in London, I was locked in my block of flats. Some bright spark had decided it was be a cracking idea to double lock the front door from the outside, making it impossible to open from within. Much cursing and tantrum throwing later, I finally did manage to escape thanks to a kindly postie whom I managed to flag down by shouting through the letterbox. Passing him my keys through the bristles, daylight was upon me, and I could go on my merry way to work, which, considering it was my first day in a new job, was a rather strange affair, all being told.

With this in mind, you’ll understand why the weekend’s Peep Show held more intrigue to me than most, as this was exactly the predicament Mark and Jez found themselves in. Like a very British farce, the pair were in Zahra’s flat as Jez finally wooed her into his naughty ways of thinking, and Mark went over to pick him up to attend his son’s (James Ian or Ian James?) christening. And then the farce began.

I find episodes based around a tight, enclosed situation intriguing, and this instalment, following our main pair in the one location, was exactly that. The problem is, it just wasn’t that funny. For the first time in what has so far been an outstanding series, we were dealt a surprisingly flat episode. The script, thus far a tour de force in Peep Show terms, had too many laboured jokes, the plot was paper-thin and struggled to stand up over the half hour, and the acting too seemed a little uninspired. All-in-all, this was quite possibly the worst Peep Show episode of any series.

That’s not to say that there weren’t any high points. Mark’s admission that he had nothing else in the ‘dad bank’ than punctuality raised a laugh, as did the general notion that Jez is surely the single worst person to be locked in a hallway with, berating Mark (‘Mr Patheto Hand’) and bemoaning everything about their predicament without actually doing anything about it, other than ordering pizza, of course.

In the main, though, the show descended into the worst kind of comedy: farce. A very crude farce at that, and while I have no problem at all with the depths to which Peep Show plumbs, there has to be a great joke behind the crudeness for it to work. Eating a charred dog to save face, for example, is a genius example of when the show gets the balance bang on. Listening to a man on the toilet while hiding behind a shower curtain, on the other hand, is woefully obvious farcical comedy and, importantly, not that funny.

Too many jokes here followed a similar pattern and, in the end, the gamble with the format simply didn’t pay off. Thank goodness for the escape in the last couple of minutes to reintroduce us to a more familiar Peep Show world, a world in which Sophie is disappointed in Mark and in which the mighty Jeff turns up to belittle him at every opportunity. Mark also didn’t get his way with the name, now the proud father of baby Ian, named after Sophie’s father, and while Mark is usually the architect of his own downfall, it was gutting to see his friend put paid to his hopes.

I don’t doubt that the series will return to form come Christmas Eve, which can’t come round soon enough. Not enjoying an episode of Peep Show is a strangely disconcerting experience.

Read our review of the third episode here.

Peep Show airs on Channel 4, Friday nights at 10:00pm.

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Brothers Tony and Richard Bracewell area formidable team. Richard, with his background in TV work, is the writer-director, while ex-PR man Tony has the production firmly under control. Together, they produced the cult movie The Gigolos, their first feature from 2006. Cuckoo is an atmospheric psychological thriller with riveting performances by Laura Fraser and Richard E. Grant.

We caught up with Tony and Richard to talk about the making of the latest film, marketing, and working with Richard E. Grant...

Your film has been ready for some time, but it has only just come out. I watched it for the first time a few months ago – why did you start showing it so early on?

Tony: It’s all about finding the right slot for the film to come out. When you’ve got a big beast such as Harry Potter on the horizon, it’s hard to predict how many screens it will take, so it took us ages to find the right slot. This allowed us to add a few finishing touches, but we didn’t do any re-editing. We got a deal for the release of the soundtrack, which will now be released before Christmas. Originally Andrew Hewitt composed the score using cello, synth and a string quartet, but he has altered it slightly, it has more depth to it. He sped it up and by altering the tempo a little bit he has heightened the tension.

How are you marketing the movie?

Tony: It’s great, it will be in the West End, at the Apollo Piccadilly Circus, which we did not have for the first film. When local cinemas get behind a film, they will find the right slot for it, because they know their audience. That’s why we did press screenings early on. I am tired of the festival circuit – there are other ways for the audience to find out about your film.

It’s all about the spending power. Big movies spend money just to get the audience. For instance, Inception is rumoured to have cost as much to make as it did to promote it. You have to make a decision as to whether you are going to try and compete with the big productions or not, and you can’t compete, so you have to embrace a different way to do it. And there is an independent or alternative way to do it.

Are you relying on the movie building enough ripples to attract a discerning crowd?

Tony: I don’t think anyone understands fully the power of Twitter and word of mouth combined. It’s something that can get great results if used well. I don’t like people who moan about the business. I have no time for it. There are ways to get your film seen. You have to embrace the fact that it will be a limited audience and get them to talk about it.

Nowadays, more than anything, you have to treat your audience with respect, and if they are spoonfed bad movies, they will vote with their feet. In terms of distribution, cinemas who take risks are key, like picture houses and some of the leading independents. They do a good job of getting behind these films.

They will not make you a multimillionaire, but then if that was the case, everyone would be in Hollywood! You have to embrace change and be very deliberate about it. All we ever wanted t do was telling a new story in a world of remakes.

This is a relatively small production from a young team. Was it difficult to get the finance?

Tony: The first coup was getting Richard E. Grant. Then we had to raise the money, with all the difficulties that entails in this day and age. It helped that we had a great story.

How did you two end up making films together?

Tony: Richard used to work at the Clapham Picture House. He knows from first hand experience that there is an audience that will be back week after week to see something new. He left to work on the 11 O’Clock Show for Channel 4. He used to do the Ali G segments – Ali G in the countryside. After that, he ended up doing Blind Date for 18 months, all the location dates. There was a limit to what he could do with that, but he learnt how to be self-sufficient, because he was always working with limited budgets. So we decided to make films together.

Can you give a bit of background on The Gigolos?

Tony: It was shot around London using improv techniques. We had a 30 or 40 page treatment, and the actors would start to improvise based on that. The story was about a gigolo and his assistant who go out and have a competition with each other. The Gigolos is about the dysfunctional relationship between the two men.

How did you get the talent for your first movie?

Tony: Susannah York really nailed it on the head: it sounded interesting, and actors like to work. Having her really helped our project get credibility. We also got Anna Massey, who was pretty much unfazed by the improv method. I mean, she has been in Frenzy and Peeping Tom – you can’t really surprise her! Our big break happened when we cut it and sent it to a lot of festivals’ it ended up being premiered on Sunset Boulevard at the ArcLight.

That’s an impressive debut!

Tony: We were under no illusions, but saw a couple of people from Miramax and DreamWorks, which we did not really expect. Then, as we were going up the escalator we saw three or four of the Desperate Housewives… It so happened that Transamerica [starring Felicity Huffman] was premiering next door!

How did it go?

Tony: We were afraid that an improvised comedy about a gigolo in London might not be well understood. You know when the audience gets it and laughs at the right places. When it came to London no distributors were interested, so we released it ourselves. We released it on five screens, and eventually it went out to 28 screens. So we ended up releasing a film by chance!

When we were in LA we were in a hotel, the Roosevelt, which has a lot of Hollywood history: Monroe resided there for a while, and she’s rumoured to be haunting the place, as is Montgomery Clift. We saw Pelé, the football legend, at one end of the lobby, and at the other end was Paris Hilton. To us this really sums up the kind of work you can do. You can either embrace quality or you follow celebrity junk culture.

[At this point, Richard, who has been working extra hours, arrives.]

How did you get this project together?

Richard: Richard E. Grant and Laura Fraser both responded really well to the script. Richard was great about his part. I had written it hoping to get someone who’d get excited about it. Laura responded to the script immediately. When she auditioned she understood the story and the characters - you knew early on that she was the only choice. She did a test on camera and, watching it, she came alive. The film is about a young woman, when it starts she is at the centre, looking at the camera, she has an intimate relationship with the audience, and the other characters are in the shadows, far away…

I think this is a career-defining performance for Laura Fraser.

Richard: I hope so. She was a delight to work with. She had a sure touch about what she’d done and whether it was right or not. There’s a stillness about her, but it’s all going on beneath. Film is a craft, put together by all sorts of different people. Because of this, actors become forgotten on set. I always make a point to let them know I’m happy with them, and also to ask their opinion.

The flat is really important, was it a real flat? What did you have in mind originally?

Tony: The flat was as important as the flat in Shallow Grave. It was built in a warehouse in Great Yarmouth.

Richard: A lot of stuff in the flat was about creating the right mood and a lot came from Laura, so I left her to it. We did not set out to make it look a certain way, a great deal of it emerged as we were working on it.

The lighting is very striking, it sets the mood of the film very strongly – it really seems to reflect Polly’s state of mind.

Richard: The cinematographer came on board 10 days before we started filming. I knew exactly what I was looking for. Mark [Partridge] had been a McLaren pit mechanic and then had been to film school, and I felt he would have nothing to prove on set. He’d listen and I left him free to express himself. I said I wanted the shadows to be black, not underexposed, but true black.

Richard had to look like he was creased and lined by all the things he had been repressing. It was lit very old school. Mark then went on to do Lark Rise To Candleford. I was obsessed by The Lives Of Others – it influenced the way Cuckoo was filmed. It feels timeless.

Tony and Richard Bracewell, thank you very much.

Cuckoo is in UK cinemas now.

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Billed as ‘the anti-social network’, Chatroom is, sadly, just anti-social.

A UK-based internet thriller directed by horror legend Hideo Nakata, and starring one of this year’s most promising young stars Aaron Johnson, this should have been at least interesting, if not a minor cult classic. Instead, it is just a truly terrible film that somehow manages to waste all the talent involved.

The premise is this: four teenagers, Jim (Matthew Beard), Eva (Imogen Poots), Emily (Hannah Murray), and Mo (Daniel Kaluuya) meet online in an internet chatroom called Chelsea Teens. There, they meet the creator of the site, William (Aaron Johnson), who on first appearance seems completely charming, charismatic and intriguing.

He is able to help the four strangers with their own personal problems, but it is soon revealed that William is not to be trusted. A troubled teen himself with a history of self-violence and depression, he is in fact manipulating the four for his own twisted games, and then begins to focus on Jim, in who he senses a similarity that can be exploited.

The problems are these. The entire look and feel of the production reeks of a bad student film, as if someone has watched Skins a bit too much and decided what it really needs is to be remade as a thriller about an outdated internet technology that no one has really used since the days of dial-up. The scenes of the teens conversing online are, to be fair, handled in quite an interesting way: it is played out as an alternate reality where the emotions of the characters are reflected in the bright colours and lighting of what seems to be a shabby hotel.

This is a refreshing change to the high-tech sophistication common to most other pieces dealing with this subject matter. However, like a lot of the film, what could have been a great idea is ruined by the execution. In many cases this is a complete lack of subtlety. William is revealed not to be a complete monster, but a very troubled boy who has turned down a dark path. In a scene in the Internet world where he is in an illegal chatroom where users verbally abuse others, he is shown watching from the sidelines with a backdrop of red wings behind him. Because you know, he’s like the devil now… yawn.

Another example of this is Eva, who is a model, and has a room with a giant picture of her face in it. Because she’s vain and self-obsessed, obviously. I also wish that the extremely good-looking cast hadn’t been playing themselves in the real world, as often an online avatar is an idealised version of you? Hell, I’d love to look like Aaron Johnson, and I’m pretty sure anyone who does isn’t some weird loner spending all his time by himself in a room.

The script also suffers from being an adaptation of an original stage play. The dialogue is often stilted and stagy, never quite breathing in that organic and natural way which we have come to expect from film. While this is understandable in the online environment, where characters are literally voicing words being written by their real-world selves, it sadly carries on offline, with William’s mother delivering some of the most cringe-worthy lines.

For a cast this stuffed with obvious talent, it is a real shame. There are also some bizarre plot points never entirely developed or dealt with effectively. I don't want to spoil them here, but there are things that just seem to make little sense.

There are also the parts of the film which have obviously been thrown in to ‘look cool’, chief of which are the horrible animated sections. They jar with the tone of the rest of the movie, and only serve to aggravate the viewer. During a segment that animates how depressed Jim was after being left by his father at the zoo, Aaron Johnson actually intones the line, “he went to the zoo and thought it was poo.” Hmmm. And as for the film’s depiction of this depression, it is sadly another area where it falls short.

Depression is a difficult subject to treat with care and consideration, while also making it both realistic and dramatically engaging. Chatroom falls to using all the clichés. The kids cut themselves, use medication, and see suicide as the ultimate end point. They are moody and anti-social, but just come across as that, without any underlying issue.

They fit the cliché that only the Internet will welcome them, and indeed the whole film falls into the trap of making the world wide web every parent’s nightmare, where their child will be seduced by strangers and probably get involved in illegal activites. It trivialises every subject matter it touches, too, and leaves us with a film that's a mess, and one that squanders the talents of all involved. A real pity.

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This review contains spoilers.

No more community service. It's time for our favourite delinquents to settle back into regular life – well, as regular as it can be with superpowers. But they haven't seen the last of trouble at the community centre.

Three months on, and it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. And it's certainly come early for Alisha, when she's offered a way out from her power after seeing dealer Seth, a man with the ability to remove and give powers – for the right price, of course. Which itself answers the prayers of a disillusioned vicar, Elliott, who's looking to become the second coming and convince his flock to part with their money... and other favours.

After last week's slightly disappointing episode, Misfits series two redeems itself with a great finale, taking the idea of a Christmas special and giving it the unique Misfits treatment. There's a lot of blasphemous intent this week, as the vicar indulges in some very un-religious behaviour.

There's a genuine tragedy, though, when after selling off their powers, Curtis is forced to realise what they've done when Nikki is shot dead by a devoted follower of Elliott. After despatching with the ungodly vicar though, they return to Seth, who offers them any power they choose, and in doing so, set up series three quite nicely.

Again, Misfits remains one of the edgiest shows currently on TV – far more so than the latest series from a certain angry comedian. It takes the nativity and turns it into an episode of Shameless with a hilarious birth sequence. And having Simon utter the immortal line “I'm going to kill Jesus” mere days before His birthday requires balls the size of planets. With the promise of new powers and possible answers to the Simon-future saga, any fans watching must be counting down the days until the next series!

When Misfits debuted last year, it quickly established itself as the witty small-scale alternative to Heroes. Proving itself far more adept at humanising feral youth then Skins, it skilfully mixed superpowered antics with convincing emotional drama grounded with Shameless-style comedy.

However, this series needs to shake things up a bit more if it's to stay on top. Firstly, will everyone please STOP HAVING SEX. Underwear gets dropped with such alarming regularity that you wonder if there's an elastic shortage. Curtis needs to have something to do, as all he was good for was bringing about a deus ex machina resolution last week.

There also needs to be fewer accidental deaths. Too often, episodes are resolved by a misplaced hook or a filing cabinet unexpectedly flying into someone's face. Lastly there's also the danger that this could turn into a lazy freak-of-the-week fest. Now we have heroes, we need an actual villain for them to fight against. Hopefully series three can bring in a longer arc.

Putting aside these tiny flaws, every aspect of this show screams first class. The stunning direction gives this show a unique look with some genuinely interesting, and minimal use of CGI. Misfits has always excelled with its soundtrack, with some brilliant choices used to underscore the emotion of its scenes. The closing moments of episode four are an obvious highlight for me, but the orchestrated scores and incidental music are beyond anything else currently on TV.

The stunning work of Beetroot Music encompasses a wide range of genres from dirty bass driven dubstep to emotive and powerful orchestral movements. Simon's transition from creep to hero is beautifully scored by Vince Pope who, if there's any justice, should be awarded for his work here.

The casting has been superb throughout this series. Not only have the young protagonists managed to up their game and become even more watchable, the big surprise for me was the extended cast. Craig Parkinson as Shaun nearly stole every scene he was in. And as Nikki, Ruth Negga was a great regular addition to the group. Each and every character was flawlessly brought to life by their actor/actress. The creepy Lucy, the robotic Tim and the innocent turned serial dairy killer Brian – all were distinctive and memorable in their portrayals.

Finishing up this quick overview, series two was a confident leap ahead of series one, as it introduced bigger concepts into the mix. This series was very much Simon's journey. From creepy weirdo to his super buff future self, Simon has really matured along this series, and I'm sure he'll pick up quite a few more fans during series three!

The Simon-future saga was handled well and left as many questions as it did answers with regards to the future of the group. But it was the human drama that really left an impact. Nathan finding then losing not just his brother but his chance with Kelly. Curtis and Alisha splitting up then moving on. And Simon finally starting to find the hero within.

Basically, if you're wondering how a genre show can successfully straddle both the cult and mainstream, then this is it. Smart, snappy, confident and tightly written, Misfits is the show that comic fans never knew they wanted. And for my money, the best thing (bar Doctor Who) to have happened to TV all year.

The Misfits Christmas Special airs again on Christmas Eve, Friday, December 24th on E4.

You can read our review of episode 6 here.

All the series 2 reviews are here.

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With the year drawing to a close I thought I’d draw my first year of Music In The Movies to a close in the same way it started – with a look back at the best movie songs of the year…

Sonny Terry – Old Lost John
Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call – New Orleans

This accompanies one of the crazier scenes in Werner Herzog’s exploration of excess, and that’s saying something. The film is wonderfully entertaining, as Herzog unleashes his unique creative sensibilities to tackle many aspects of the film in unconventional ways. This particular scene, the “His soul is still dancing” scene, really is quite remarkable, and this crazy song from Sonny Terry provides a great accompaniment.

The Used – The Bird And The Worm
Clash Of The Titans

Okay, so this was only used in the trailer, and really only gets a place in this best-of for a certain segment where the giant scorpion’s tail comes down in time with the drum beat. One of the best things to feature in a trailer this year, and infinitely better than anything in the actual film itself. Although the “Ease you storm” line was pretty special.

Scala & Kolacny Brothers – Creep
The Social Network

Another song that features in a trailer is this haunting cover of Radiohead’s Creep by Belgian women’s choir Scala & Kolacny Brothers. It featured in my favourite of all the trailers released in the run up to this excellent film. The promo in question used the song to accompany a montage of the usual Facebook activities.

Richard Hawley – Tonight The Streets Are Ours
Exit Through the Gift Shop

Exit Through The Gift Shop is one of my favourite films of the year. Whether it’s a documentary, or a mockumentary, or even a bit of both, it doesn’t affect the film in any way – in fact, the ambiguity probably strengthens it. This song, which plays at the start of the film, sets the scene brilliantly, with the sentiment and the title of the song marrying themselves to the images magnificently.

Foo Fighters – My Hero
The Other Guys

Remember a time when the Foo Fighters were good? Once a promising offshoot from a great band, there was a time when they produced some interesting and rather excellent material before churning out uninspired middle-of-the-road nonsense.

This gem, from their second album, The Colour And The Shape, was put to great use in the fairly average but reasonably entertaining McKay, Ferrell, Wahlberg comedy vehicle The Other Guys. The use is inspired, as super cops Highsmith and Danson, played by Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson respectively, engage in some OTT heroics/stupidity, leaving the rest of the force to pick up the pieces.

Gipsy Kings - You've Got A Friend in Me (para Buzz Español)
Toy Story 3

The Randy Newman-penned You’ve Got a Friend In Me has featured in all three of the Toy Story films. It’s a song that perfectly and rather beautifully encapsulates the central theme of loyalty and friendship at the core of the trilogy, and has become a theme of sorts for the series. The Gipsy Kings’ Spanish language take on the song that played out over the closing credits was a nice upbeat closer to the film after the rather emotional final third (yes, I cried – twice!) that called back to Buzz’s change in native tongue and personality earlier in the film.

Snork/Slade - Cum on Feel The Noise
Cemetery Junction

Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s coming of age tale is full of fantastic music from the time in which the film is set, creating a brilliant sense of time and place whilst heightening the required emotions of the scenes that they feature in. Such was the quality if the music choices, I struggled to narrow it down to one, and I almost settled for All The Young Dudes, but re-watching the film it’s this song, that plays out over a great set piece in the middle, that I enjoyed the most.

It’s impossible not to break out in a smile as Snork (brilliantly played by Jack Doolan) delivers a rather fantastic version of this Slade classic. A brilliant moment in a brilliant film.

Sparks – This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us
Kick-Ass

I love this song, and its inclusion in the film put a huge smile on my face. A perfect choice of song for when Kick-Ass experiences insecurity and cape envy following the emergence of a new superhero to rival his popularity, Christopher Mintz-Plasse's Red Mist.

Taken from the Mael brothers’ 1974 album, Kimono My House, I remember being amazed the first time I heard this, at a fairly young age, having not heard anything quite like it at that point in my life.

Sex Bob-Omb / Beck – Threshold
Scott Pilgrim Vs The World

One of the more overtly musically geeky films of the year, and perhaps of all time, Edgar Wright’s adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s series of graphic novels featured an astonishing soundtrack that featured original material from Toronto natives Metric and Broken Social scene, as well as some fantastic material from Beck. It’s this song that’s my favourite. As mentioned in my piece on the film earlier this year, I feel that the song acted as a theme for Scott getting his act together, and getting shit done.

Édith Piaf - Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien
Inception

I don’t think a song has played a more integral part to a film than this Édith Piaf classic did in Christopher Nolan’s masterpiece Inception. The kicker to awake those in the dream state is used at various points throughout the film, Hans Zimmer has stated that the song acted as a source of inspiration to him whilst composing the score, with some sections being built around this iconic piece of music.

A round-up of my favourite scores of the year will follow next week. In the meantime, why not provide your favourite film songs of 2010 in the comments below?

• See all the Music in the movies

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This review contains spoilers.

2.5 Dead Head

This episode opens with Chance and Winston sitting at a cafe waiting for an anonymous client to show up. When a car bomb explodes in the cafe's car park and they save the driver from the car, the team have found their new client. After him to the hospital, they find that he now has amnesia.

A John Doe (Roger Bart), or J.D. as Ames labels him, is signed out to the custody of Ilsa without her knowledge and this brings the police knocking. In particular, a Lieutenant Broward (Nick Chinlund) who, it quickly comes apparent, has a history with Winston. Winston informs the team that he's a dirty cop and is, in fact, the reason why Winston isn't a cop anymore.

A trip to the motel that J.D. was staying at reveals a key, while Guerrero has a look at the remains of the car bomb. While on the phone with Guerrero, Chance notices a biker gang with guns entering the motel, presumably coming for J.D. With the combination of a shotgun and a Molotov cocktail, Chance and Winston take care of the gang just before Broward shows up and takes J.D. into protective custody. Guerrero has a ‘conversation' with an old friend who reveals that the gang were actually hired to take out Chance and company. This leads to Chance, Winston and Ames capturing J.D. from Broward's car just after he's told J.D. he's going to kill him.

Some of Broward's dirty cops show up at the office to kidnap Ilsa, but she's already made her escape, leaving the whole team as fugitives. While Ilsa is being picked up by Guerrero, the team figures out that the key they found is for a self storage locker, which happens to contain a van full of cash along with an ID showing J.D.'s real name is David Jarecki.  Guerrero reveals that Jarecki is one of the best money launderers on the West Coast and we also learn that Jarecki has a photographic memory. That could come in handy.

Winston and Chance take a trip to see Winston's ex-wife, Michelle (Tracie Thoms). Michelle still lives in the house they shared and still has all of his old case details in her home. While having a look through these, Winston remembers that Broward has an offshore account and they decide that's the best way to get him.

The team come up with a plan that begins with Ilsa transferring two million dollars to a holding account, before Chance and Jarecki head into the police station and try to trick Lt. Broward into giving them his offshore account number.  After Broward threatens Jarecki, he reveals the existence of the storage unit full of money, leaving Chance to take care of several police officers. At the storage unit, just before Broward has a chance to shoot, Winston shows up to get his revenge. It turns out Jarecki's photographic memory is all the evidence they need to convict Broward. Who'd have thought!

Chance and Ames reveal to Jarecki that it was, in fact, him who planted the bomb in his car and that they think he was trying to fake his own death before he stole all that money. The episode ends with Winston visiting Michelle again to apologise for the way things went between them.

This was a very entertaining episode which focused mainly on Winston and Chi McBride was fantastic, taking the majority of the story here. His rapport with his ex-wife was excellent and I wouldn't be surprised if we saw her again. It was good getting to see his motivations for doing what he does.

Another standout point was the contribution of Roger Bart. He played David Jarecki with just enough vulnerability that you felt sorry for him, whereas he could have easily gone over the top.

Ames was back in this episode and had a few funny scenes, the best of which being when she crashed Guerrero's car as a distraction, then put on her damsel in distress act. I also liked the Nightmare On Elm Street homage of her jacket. (For those of you who aren't aware, Guerrero and Freddy are played by the same actor.) Even Ilsa's contribution to this episode was good, although that may have been down to her sharing screen time with Guerrero. It was good seeing her opening her eyes to the way some people have to be. She's even showing signs of understanding that the world isn't all black and white.

Overall, it was a very good episode. Okay, the plot was never going to win any awards, but the performances in this episode were great and I really look forward to the season developing further.

Read our review of episode 4, The Return Of Baptiste, here.

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There are a surprisingly large number of famous fictional mice. Jerry, Speedy Gonzales, Pinky & The Brain, er... Stuart Little? But, without a doubt, the most famous of them all is Mickey. His white face and red shorts have been spearheading Disney’s animated arsenal since 1928. Slice off the top of his scalp and you have a logo powerful enough to evoke waves of childhood nostalgia.

But before Mickey, there was another. Another warped animal with a pale complexion and colourful legware. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit arrived the year before his more famous cousin and starred in hundreds of cartoons in the 20s and 30s. Now nobody remembers him.

This is the thematic starting point for Epic Mickey. In an exciting intro movie, we see a wizard constructing a world at his desk, paintbrush in hand. Mickey, the scamp, attempts to join in while the magician’s back is turned, but only succeeds in tipping a bottle of black ichor onto the desk. When he is sucked into that world many years later, he discovers a land populated by forgotten Disney characters, ruled over by Oswald, but ravaged by a monster known as the Shadow Blot.

Epic Mickey was masterminded by designer Warren Spector, revered for his work on System Shock and Deus Ex. The melding of his status as a serious creator with the icon of the world’s most powerful entertainment company has had fingers twitching since the game’s announcement in 2009. Early information appeared promising. We were told that, as Mickey, you would be able to choose between good and evil, and that your actions would have a tangible effect on the world around you. The hype was so effective that Epic Mickey scooped a number of awards at E3 2010.

If the above paragraph means almost nothing to you, then breathe easy. None of that information is required reading and, given that the game completely fails to live up to those high expectations, you’ll probably have more fun with it. Anyone with the Deus Ex logo tattooed on their arm should brace themselves for disappointment. For all the preemptive plaudits, the only award Epic Mickey deserves to win is ‘Most Grammatically Confused Title.’

Not that Epic Mickey is a bad game. It’s fine, but N64-style 3D platforming isn’t going to get anyone very excited. Surprise: Mickey can double-jump! And he solves puzzles to move from one area to the next. So far, so Rayman 2. The core differentiating mechanic is Mickey’s magic paintbrush. With it, he can fire out paint or thinner onto enemies and buildings that surround him, restoring or dilapidating them as he sees fit.

It is with this ability that Mickey was supposed to bring about world-altering consequences, but in practice, the differences are little more than cosmetic. Its most interesting uses are as a way of introducing new puzzle ideas - like hiding objects behind thinable walls - and the effect it has on Mickey’s ink-blot enemies. By firing out either paint or thinner you can befriend or destroy different creatures. Reducing them to a pool of black gloop is quicker, but if you can turn them to your side they will fight alongside you.

The only time the paint/thinner decision has a lasting effect is in the wake of boss battles. Every major enemy can be defeated in one of two ways. Sometimes the choice is as simple as which colour projectile you fire at them, while others offer a passive or aggressive path. Depending on which option you pick, certain characters may return at a later date to aid or hinder your progress.

At times like these, the neat story and comfortable references come together to make something quite satisfying. It’s easy to overlook the occasionally dodgy camera when the context makes your choices feel meaningful. The puzzle sections operate with a similar success rate, rewarding you for figuring out where to go next and how to get there. Conversely, Epic Mickey tends towards boring when it starts to rely heavily on jumping.

One of the many exciting innovations hinted at before the game’s release was a heavy RPG element, but the end product features nothing like the involvement of Mr Spector might have led you to believe. Ancillary characters hand out optional quests to complete, but these rarely reward anything interesting. A notable lack of strong stories gives you little incentive to complete them. Epic Mickey is technically an open world game, but there’s never a good reason to return to an area you aren’t already being directed to.

Mickey platforming veterans might get a thrill from the way you move between zones. Jumping into a projector, our hero enters a 2D world reminiscent of Mega Drive titles like Castle Of Illusion. Animation historians may also get a kick out of these levels, each one themed around an early Mickey Mouse cartoon. These areas are a reminder of what a rich vein of content the developers had to draw from. It’s frustrating that they weren’t able to leverage all that material into something more interesting. Most disappointingly, none of the characters are voiced, with the nice hand-drawn cutscenes undermined by grunts and squeaks rendered into text at the bottom of the screen.

Anyone gasping with anticipation for the arrival of Epic Mickey should probably knock another star off the review score for sheer disappointment. Similarly, those invested heavily in Disney might find themselves a little let down. The rest of us in the middle, who have a fondness for classic animation and good video games, will find enough fun to remain entertained, if not enthralled.

Epic Mickey is out now and available from the Den Of Geek Store.

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