Spoiler warning: If you've not seen 127 Hours, you might want to check back once you have.

Sometimes in life you find yourself in sticky situations. I'm not talking about getting treacle in your eye or ending up glued to the toilet seat. I mean dilemma scenarios where tough choices have to be made and where none of the options seem easy or appealing.

Movies are made out of these traumatic moments and I suppose the way you act when the sticky situations come might ultimately boil down to your filmic preferences. If you watch a lot of fluffball chick flicks, for example, you're liable to respond with a lot of hysterical "Oh my God!" screeching before going out and buying some shoes to make yourself feel better.

If you like über-macho gun-totin' action movies, you may pick up power tools (or heavy weaponry, if you're hardcore and have connections) and unleash carnage until all the conundrums are blasted, smoked and absolutely wasted.

If you're a fan of the Coen Brothers, however, you may get visions of Ulysses Everett T. McGill and find yourself uttering the line, "Damn! We're in a tight spot!"

With the exception of the Dude (because he always abides), looking to the lead characters of the Coens' movies probably isn't helpful when you're in a pickle. It's not inspiring watching Barton Fink fail to break his writer's block and crack that wrestling screenplay. Larry Gopnik of A Serious Man finds his midlife crisis going from worse to bad on biblical levels, no matter what he does or whichever rabbi he turns to. Deal with dilemmas in the style of the imbecile ensembles in Raising Arizona, Fargo and Burn After Reading and you're most likely to end up in jail or die in blackly comic fashion.

I want to focus on Soggy Bottom Boy Everett McGill, though, because he's outstanding in the Coen Pantheon of Farcical Fools. I think it's the vanity of George Clooney's character in O Brother, Where Art Thou? that marks him out as he and his brothers somehow scrape through  all the trouble around them, "Damn! We're in a tight spot!" repeated over and over.

He lives in the desperation of the 1930s Deep South during the Great Depression. He's escaping the chain gang and is forced to flee floods, sirens and the lynch-happy local branch of the Ku Klux Klan. Yet, through it all, his chief concern is probably his hairdo.

His outrage at not being able to get his preferred pomade - "I don't want Fop, goddammit! I'm a Dapper Dan man!" - and the "My hair!" exclamations say it all. Everett's priorities are all askew and his obsession with keeping his coiffure in pleasantly-odoured order renders him more bona fide idiot rather than American Odysseus. Real heroes do not wear hairnets.

A wise person once told me, "You can't fix a broken leg with a haircut." I guess, by extension, you can't fix a broken leg with Dapper Dan hair jelly either, unless it's magic or a completely different product that's been mislabelled and packaged in the wrong can.

Altogether, I came to reflect on that piece of excellent advice and the need for practical solutions in the face of "Damn! We're in a tight spot!" dilemmas after watching 127 Hours.

The whole premise of the Danny Boyle's latest film is a tight spot. Outdoors enthusiast, Aron Ralston (played by James Franco), gets trapped in a narrow canyon, his right arm stuck beneath a fallen, wedged boulder. He can't move, he's all alone in the Utah wilderness and no one knows he's stuck there. Ralston recognises that his predicament is pretty hopeless and is aware that survival is a race against time.

Fortunately, Ralston is a proactive guy and sets about doing what he can to try and get free. Even if he can't shift the rock and is doomed to perish in isolation, he's not going to die without putting up a spirited effort.

Accepting that he's lost his arm but resolved not to lose it emotionally, our protagonist turns to his limited resources and does what he can. Ralston rigs up a pulley system to try and lift the rock, records messages on a video camera and rations out his water supply with incredible composure, considering the circumstances.

The more irrational power of his imagination also helps when hallucinations and flashbacks pass the time and neutralise the loneliness. It's more enjoyable recalling happy family gatherings and visualising cool parties with cold beer, women and an inflatable Scooby Doo than contemplating your imminent demise nonstop for five days. Whatever helps take away the bitter taste of your own mortality and the urine you've been reduced to drinking in order not to dehydrate, dream on that.

Yet, the memories and enforced life examination are never going to move the boulder that's imprisoned him in Bluejohn Canyon. Thinking on inflatable cartoon dogs and perhaps asking the timeless question "What would Scooby Doo?" isn't constructive either. (We all know that Velma is the real brains of the crack troop of meddling kids riding the Mystery Machine.)

The only way out is to remove himself from the rock and that means cutting off his right arm. He wants to live, and having held off long enough, the canyoneer summons up the courage, picks up his blunt knife and performs surgery on himself.

It's messy and, no doubt, painful beyond comprehension but - damn! - Ralston does the seemingly inconceivable, makes the amputation, extricates himself and in the end survives. From the blood and bleakness he emerges injured but exultant into sunlight and a shiny, optimistic future of opportunity, elated, having snatched victory from the closing chasm of death.

Inspiring and incisive, the moral is this: when you're caught 'Between A Rock And A Hard Place' (the name of Ralston's autobiography) you have to make hard choices. Sometimes the available options are brutal and unpleasant. Sometimes the solution is hard, uncomfortable and painful. Nevertheless, as highlighted in intense fashion by 127 Hours, if it's the only way out, then it's got to be taken.

You're in a tight spot, so pull yourself together, quit daydreaming about Scooby Doo and quibbling about the condition of your hair. You can only evade the inevitable for so long and you'll ultimately never get out of the sticky situation, so get hacking on the real solution, as repulsive and unnerving as that may be.

So, damn, you're in a tight spot? Think on the blood-stained figure of James Franco stumbling triumphantly out of Bluejohn Canyon, find inner strength and cut yourself free (literally).

James' previous column can be found here.

You can reach James on his Twitter feed here, see his film cartoons here and more sketches here.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

The guest star for the penultimate episode of this series is comedienne and actress, Kaye Ballard. With numerous Broadway and TV credits to her name, Ballard was an accomplished and versatile performer with roots in vaudeville.

With this being the case, the setup of The Muppet Show's format should be something that Ballard was comfortable with. Sadly, that wasn't to be and sees a further dip in quality from the episode that preceded it.

For a show that clocks in at the normal runtime of twenty five minutes, there aren't that many sketches to speak of, which, judging by the quality of the sketches that are seen here, is probably a good thing.

The only elements of the show that I enjoyed were the backstage antics which involved Floyd Pepper threatening to quit because he's sick of performing The Muppet Show theme song, as it's too embarrassingly square.

Clearly Floyd's too hip to be square. It's not only Floyd, though. The bassist convinced the entire band to leave unless he's able to compose a new theme song. Kermit relents and allows him to come up with a new theme song, despite Floyd stating that he won't like it, as not even he likes his own music, and if it wasn't for the fact that he knew that he was a genius, he wouldn't listen to his garbage.

The band end up quitting, as it's apparent that Kermit hated their new theme and the Zappaesque Fugue For Frog would not replace the existing theme. This leaves Rowlf to do a solo version of the theme on piano to play the show out and exclaiming that the theme is a little square.

As mentioned earlier, other than the backstage antics, there's very little of note here, and without Floyd and the band's threats to quit, this could easily have been the worst episode of the series so far.

This is hugely disappointing, considering that this is the penultimate episode and until the episode prior to this, things had been looking up, with a run of very strong episodes.

We've seen guests fail to bring enough personality to the performance, or material that doesn't effectively support the guest stars sink previous episodes. This seems to be a combination of both, as a lot of the material Ballard is involved with is a little cringe-worthy and simply not funny. A little humour is the least you'd expect from an accomplished comedy performer.

The performance of Norman Smith's Oh Babe What Would You Say was difficult to watch. Originally recorded with Thog on The Julie Andrews Hour, I'd suggest seeking that version out to see this material done well.

Ballard's other musical number is One Note Samba, where she and Miss Piggy set out to one-up one another throughout the performance in what ends up being a dull finale to the show.

The performance of Roger Miller's In The Summertime by the Country Trio was passable, but nothing special. It would be performed again in series three when Miller guest stared. Another Muppet Show connection for this song is that it was performed under the title You Don't Want My Love by Andy Williams, who would appear in series four.

I think what makes this episode such a disappointment is that it looked as though things were picking up after a shaky first half of the series, and that the series would close strong. In comparison to a lot of the material in the first half of the series, this is perhaps not that bad an episode, just a distinctly average one. However, in comparison to the great run of episodes recently, this is a huge disappointment.

I hope that the intriguing guests for the season finale can provide a strong conclusion to the series.

You can read our remembrance of episode 22 here.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

Press junkets often involve a lot of waiting, and the roundtable interview for Blue Valentine we attended in December was no different. However, our interviewee, Ryan Gosling, had what we deemed a valid excuse. You see, that morning he'd received a call from the States. His performance in the film, as Dean, one half of a doomed romance, had landed him a Golden Globe nomination.

So, you can guess what the first question was about. But things soon opened up, as Gosling, every bit as intense and thoughtful as his on-screen personae, chatted with us about the curse of an NC-17 rating in the States, the unconventional shooting process with co-star Michelle Williams and writer/director Derek Cianfrance, and how he needs to take a break from heart-rending independent drama.

Congratulations on the Golden Globe nomination! How does it feel being at the start of the awards season, with Blue Valentine generating such a buzz?

For a film like this, for a film so small, these things are really helpful. They make up for a lack of printed advertising money that you don't have. They're very helpful for the film, that's great. A lot of people will go and see the film, because it's getting acknowledged on that level.

That happened with Half Nelson, for sure. It gains an awareness for the film that you can't afford.

Is it good to have this positive development, after all of the talk around the ratings of the film, with it nearly getting an NC-17 rating? Were you worried that people might be shut out from seeing it?

Well, they would have been. It's not just, like, kids under 17 can't see the film - I agree, they shouldn't - but it means that it can't play in a lot of major theatres and they can't even run ads for it on television or in newspapers. It was more exciting to find out that we're not officially pornographers.

Could you understand at all why it got that rating initially?

Not really. I mean, it's very confusing. It feels like a real double standard. You can't speak to them directly, so you can't find out exactly why. But it seems like that ratings system needs to be revisited, I think.

We were happy that they rethought our rating, but the problem still remains. It's a problem that's bigger than our film.

Do you think it's because scenes of sex, even if they're in the context of a relationship, are still taboo, whereas violence isn't?

RI just think that 10 people that live in the valley, representing parents across America is... how is that possible? They just make these decisions and they decide for these parents what's acceptable and what's not acceptable. So, their tolerance of violence is so different to their tolerance of sexuality, and if there's violence involved in the sexuality, it's somehow perceived as entertainment, but if there's love involved with sexuality it's seen as pornographic, and therefore not acceptable.

They really control what happens to these films, if they get out or they don't get out. By giving a film an NC-17 rating, you're not saying, "I don't want kids under 17 to see this film." You're saying, "I don't think anyone should see this film," because it's relegated to arthouse theatres in big cities, and it doesn't get out to the people, the people who it was made for.

Talking of promotion, the poster says "Blue Valentine: A Love Story". Would you call it a love story?

Yeah.

Would you take a date to see it?

I would! I think it's very romantic. Back home, they call it an anti-love story. But the filmmaker, when he first started writing this film 12 years ago, he said he wrote it as a reaction to all these films that he was watching, which seemed like the actors were carved out of marble and made in the image of gods.

He wanted to make a film that was made in the image of man, that embraces that our faults are what makes us special and human. And these characters in this film couldn't embrace each other's faults, because they were trying to live up to some idea of perfection that only exists in movies. So, I think that it is romantic to acknowledge the faults.

The film is structured around two timelines, at the beginning and end of the relationship. Did you film it in two parts? Did this help with the chemistry with Michelle Williams?

To shoot all the beautiful stuff first - the falling in love - was like a dream. We built this castle, and we had to tear it down. But while we were tearing it down, we knew what we were losing, because we'd built it.

We wanted to show the effects of time, and we wanted to treat our characters like flags. When you see a flag, it's torn at the edges, because the wind has beaten it down and the sun has made it lose its colour. We wanted to show the erosion of time on our characters.

How much does playing a character like Dean take it out of you, especially when you're tearing the castle down?

I left it all on the field on that film. I can't imagine going back and doing another independent drama for a while. I went and made a comedy, with Steve Carell, afterwards. It was a completely different experience.

When I first moved to Los Angeles, I did a pilot when I was 17. I had a small part, and so did Steve Carell. I remember watching him shoot one day. He was so funny that they couldn't make it through the takes. The crew was laughing. At one point the boom guy had to put down the boom and laugh. And it was the first time it ever occurred to me that you could be so good that it was a problem. And I made a promise to myself that I would work with Steve one day. So, it came along at the right time, right after I'd finished Blue Valentine.

How was it working with Derek Cianfrance?

I feel like I've been dreaming of this person to come into my life who'd want to work this way. There are very few filmmakers who are willing to just dismantle the whole idea of the process in general. He always treated the filming process like the convention of making film was like a big monster hand that was always trying to get its grasp on us, and we were always outrunning it. He did so many things.

For instance, at the beginning of the movie, where I'm waking up, he set up the cameras in the living room at night and I went to sleep, and I woke up and the crew had all snuck in and had been filming me sleeping. And then my little girl woke me up and we went out into the yard, and there were cameras in the forest filming us.

There was so much thought put into what would be the most fruitful environment to put us in. It's very thoughtful. The idea that acting is a last resort, that he'll do as much work as he possibly can and when you're asked to act, it's like there's no other option.

Over the years that we were prepping our characters, Michelle and I never met. We'd had one dinner. So, when we showed up on set, we really met each other on camera, in character. So, when something's happening for the first time for the audience, it's really happening for the first time for us as well. We didn't have many do-overs either. Most of it was long, one take.

Did you know your characters' trajectory all the time? Had you seen a finished script?

No, he would give us pointers. We knew that, eventually, we were going to do this part of the film where we'd be living together with a kid. We knew what the scenes were. But within each scene the director would give us a point A to point B, and how however we wanted to get there was up to us.

You could draw a line between those two dots. It could be a squiggly line. It could be any colour you wanted to be. But you had to get from those two points. So, we never really knew what the other one was going to do. So it had a life of its own.

The script was a traditional script. He wrote about 75 drafts and a manifesto. And then when we got on set, he said, "This script is 12 years old. It's dead to me. If you say any of the lines, you'll bore me. Action."

Do you feel that, after Lars And The Real Girl, Half Nelson and Blue Valentine, that you've done your time in independent cinema for a while?

No, I love those films. I don't just want to make small movies that no one ever sees. Every time I make a movie, I think they're going to be bigger than Avatar, and it just never happens. But every time I'm sure that this is the one.

And films like Blair Witch Project instigate that, because it makes me feel like it's possible to make a small movie that resonates and becomes successful. That would be my dream. That they would be so good that that would be the special effect. The authenticity would feel like you're watching it in 3D. And then everyone would want to run and see it.

So, where does Drive, the film you're doing with Carey Mulligan in which you play a stuntman, fit in?

I think, you know, Nicolas Winding Refn is the director on that, and he's a very special filmmaker. And I think it's ended up being more like some kind of cross between Blue Velvet and Purple Rain - which I'm excited about, and I hope everyone else will be excited about it too.

I spent a couple of months going to a big parking lot, and there'd be a new Camero or a new Mustang, and we'd just run it till it was stripped, and then a tow truck would pull it away and we'd go home. It was the best time in my life.

How was it putting on the weight for the latter parts of Blue Valentine?

I was supposed to put on a lot of weight, but I got concerned that people would walk out of the film and feel like, aw, well, if he hadn't have let himself go, it would have worked out. You know, if he'd have just hit the treadmill, it would have been fine. So, we didn't want it to be too extreme. We had eating contests, basically. Michelle won.

It's always quite dangerous to do that, for your body. How do you feel about that?

I did it for The Lovely Bones. I was 150 pounds and I got up to 210. And I never even shot it!

How did that feel?

Terrible! I was fat, bald and unemployed, walking around New York. It was not a fun time. And it's not good for you. I don't know how Christian Bale does it.  It's incredible what he does. Really. I'm in awe of his commitment.

But it's your job, though. Every job has its downside.

Ryan Gosling, thank you very much.

Blue Valentine is released on January 14th.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

I am well aware that the Internet is full to brimming with a variety of Nicolas Cage compilations, with titles such as 'Cage Rage' and ‘Cage losing his shit' becoming part of the web vernacular, but the idea behind this list is to try and reflect the various emotional effects that his films and performances are capable of, not just to list his onscreen outbursts. Though don't get me wrong, there's always room for some of that too.

I've been itching to defend his work for a while now, as the majority of negative comments about him tend to be centred on the misconception that all he does is make ‘bad' movies, without people taking the time to look at his career as a whole. To be honest, I thought the remake of Bangkok Dangerous was awful and just recently wrote a tear-filled review of Season of The Witch, so I'm not oblivious to the missteps, but thought that Next and Knowing were perfectly watchable, if flawed, entertainment.

But look at what surrounded those films. Bad Lieutenant, Lord Of War, Matchstick Men, Adaptation, even the National Treasure films were solid fun. Just try and name an actor that hasn't made a few mistakes and be grateful that at least Cage didn't just stick to romcoms when he had the chance, or to pure action after Jerry Bruckheimer started him on that path.

There always seems to be a level of personal investment from him into the roles he chooses. So, if he wants to fulfil a childhood dream by becoming a knight in Season Of The Witch, then fine. Or, if he spends years passionately trying to be a part of a live action comic book movie and finally gets Ghost Rider, that's ok too. Wouldn't you do the same?

So, let's try and tone down the Cage bashing. If you don't like him, that's fine. But maybe try a couple of the films on this list. They've all affected me in different ways over the years, so maybe they'll do the same for you (though don't blame me if you develop a drinking problem after watching Leaving Las Vegas). Some of his more underappreciated and less geek-centric films will be noticeable by their absence, but I'll hopefully be addressing those in a future article.

The list is, of course, based on my personal highlights, but also serves to illustrate the point that, no matter what the current preconceived notion of his work is, he has an incredibly varied and strong body of work and one which I'll always be excited to see grow (not least with the incoming, and awesome-looking, Drive Angry 3D next month).

And as for The Wicker Man? Well, I think that speaks for itself.

10. "You just put it in the right file, according to alphabetical order! Y'know A, B , C, D, E, F, G!"

Vampire's Kiss (1988)

It would seem wrong not to include Vampire's Kiss, though it's the only film of Cage's that I watched specifically for this list, mostly due to a friend's ardent passion for it and because it contains a large amount of the material that frequents the YouTube compilations mentioned. It's an uneven film at best, though thoroughly enjoyable for all the wrong reasons.

He plays Peter Loew, a man with an strange accent somewhere between yuppie and Brit (by way of Dick Van Dyke), who seems to have a hallucinogenic breakdown which involves the lovely Jennifer Beals draining his blood and slowly turning him into a vampire. Not the worst meltdown to suffer. The only problem is that the more insane Loew becomes, the more he believes that he is one of the immortal undead.

This involves eating a real cockroach (in an infamous moment of method acting), buying a pair of cheap vampire teeth, becoming a bit rape-y and er, obsessing over a missing file, which seems to draw attention to the banality of city life in a similar fashion to American Psycho, which isn't the only similarity they share.

There are many, many moments throughout the film of Cage taking insanity in a role to the next level. But the one that I can't dislodge from my brain takes place in his psychologist's office, during which he makes his disbelief at misfiling quite clear.

Vampire's Kiss, unlike the other films on this list, works better as edited highlights for me, but I have a feeling it's really going to grow on me. Either way I think a clip might be in order to start proceedings.

9. "Good call, babydoll."

Kick-Ass (2010)

Bearing in mind that the former Nicholas Coppola, took his screen surname from comic book character, Luke Cage, it was gratifying to see the comic geek in Nic Cage finally get to appear in an adaptation that was so critically acclaimed, especially after the mixed reception that Ghost Rider received.

Back in the nineties, I was so close to getting a comic book film that would have potentially embraced a holy trinity of Cage, Tim Burton and Pierce Brosnan, under the guise of a Superman film, and I've never forgotten about it. Imagine Cage's patience then, as time and time again he was linked to a stream of comic book movies that never happened.

In Kick-Ass he may not have played the young lead hero, but ended up with a far more interesting character in Big Daddy/Damon Macready, though it's the latter that I loved. As a moustache-adorned father, Macready was utterly sympathetic in his devotion to his daughter, despite Mark Millar's twisting of the dynamic in the relationship.

As an introduction to both Damon and Mindy Macready (aka Hit-Girl), there was no finer example than their opening moment in the film, where Mindy uses her youthful stature to bargain her way to some ice cream, only in return, having to take a couple of slugs in the chest from a gun her father has pointed at her. It's a fine scene of black comedy, lifted by the two leads and perfectly ended by just the slightest hint of psychosis by Cage as he squeezes the trigger.

8. "Bangers and mash! Bubbles and squeak! Smoked eel pie! Haggis!"

National Treasure 2: Book Of Secrets (2007)

The now-franchised, National Treasure movies might not be the embodiment of art and commerce that Cage hoped for in his Oscar acceptance speech, but they are damn solid entertainment. They have also helped to plug the historical/action movie gap left open by Indiana Jones, which the first Mummy film grabbed, but couldn't sustain. The Tomb Raider films followed the same fate not long after, while the less said about the awful The Da Vinci Code, the better.

Cage's role of Ben Gates is one of his calmer, more mainstream roles, which genuinely works for the character, especially when he's had to face off against the likes of professional bad guys, Sean Bean and (again) Ed Harris. I'd be lying, though, if I said I'd watched Cage's performance and not craved just a little bit of mania.

Somewhere, somehow, someone heard my wish and, right in the middle of a normal adventure film, let Cage unleash a tirade of random utterances, in what I can only assume read in the script as ‘Ben causes a disturbance'. It's a glorious couple of minutes that manages to include his trademark ‘whole arm point', a funny walk, sliding down a banister, the strangest English accent since Dick Van Dyke and some singing.

As Justin Bartha utters after the scene has finished, "That was brilliant."

7. "Hey, have you ever been dragged to the sidewalk and beaten until you pissed blood!"

Matchstick Men (2003)

If this film doesn't rank as an underappreciated Nicolas Cage film on this list, then it can most definitely be labelled as one of Ridley Scott's, presumably as it was overshadowed by the more high profile films of Scott's that sandwiched Matchstick Men, Black Hawk Down and Kingdom Of Heaven. The nature of the film dictates that the less you know about it, the better, but I can tell you that it's an absolute gem.

A word of warning, though. Cage's character, Roy Waller, suffers from tics and obsessive compulsive behaviour, so the acting is suitably mannered and perhaps not for everyone. The journey that the character undertakes, though, is made more potent by Waller having to overcome his own habits to accommodate a massive upheaval to his life.

Sam Rockwell is on his own distinctively great sleazy shift duties (which he last employed to solid comedic effect in Iron Man 2). But what really stood out the first time I saw it, was Alison Lohman in the first performance I'd seen her give. She is truly remarkable and her character's interaction with Waller makes the whole film gel.

But, in order to draw attention away from the film's plot, I'm going to cheat by choosing an outburst moment from Mr Cage, as the real crux of the film would ruin the movie for you.

The outburst in question is another standout, after Waller's desperate attempts to keep things under control starts to crumble in a chemist. No one likes a queue jumper, but his frustration at the general public's attitude to his emergency is something we've all felt. So, maybe I'll give the title quote a go next time I'm stuck waiting to be served.

6. "It was mine. That love. I owned it."

Adaptation (2002)

Like Raising Arizona and Lord Of War, Adaptation is a superb film that contains some of his finest work, but isn't defined by one moment as such, especially when Cage is playing two characters at the same time.

Adaptation is also one of the films on this list that I can whole heartedly recommend to even the stoutest protester of his work, as his dual performance is superb and supported by the excellent Meryl Streep and Chris Cooper.

There is such versatility in Cage's performance as overweight, balding twins Charlie and Donald Kaufman (I won't even begin to explain the crossover with the fictional versions of Kaufman with the real one here), that you never question that the scenes in which the brothers converse is anything other than real. Even more impressive are the subtle differences achieved by playing twins who are physically identical, but completely at odds personality-wise.

The moment that best defines the full power of the above comes towards the end of the film, when the two brothers finally share a moment of heartbreaking intimacy. Charlie has spent the majority of the film caught up in his own mind, too intellectually challenged to make much time for his seemingly simple, but happy, brother. When Donald reveals his attitude towards love and rejection, it's truly moving, especially when mirrored in his brother's eyes. The whole scene is a masterclass in acting, but the whole film is equally brilliant. Watch it if you haven't.

5. "FBI!"

The Rock (1996)

I spent a few years in action movie limbo, as I'd been raised in the 80s with the likes of Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Seagal and Van Damme. But when that decade finished, things seemed to dry up. Discovering John Woo's back catalogue helped sustain me, until one day Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer came to my rescue with Bad Boys, blowing me away as they returned the genre to its explosive, witty glory.

As if that wasn't enough, they then took my art house hero and made him a bona fide action star, resulting in Cage's turn as super nerd, Stanley Goodspeed, in The Rock.

The casting in The Rock is top to bottom immaculate. Heavy weights such as Sean Connery and Ed Harris are outstanding, but the supporting actors are given equal chance to shine, with too many to mention save for Michael Biehn, who fulfils his eternal movie destiny, but at least gets to take others down with him this time.

The dynamic between Cage and Connery sparks from their first encounter in an interrogation room ("Offer me coffee."). But, without doubt, the scene that has been played many, many times over the years during movie sessions is the car chase. It was criticised by some at the time for the choppy editing, which looks tame compared to the standard now. But from the moment The Chase track kicks in on the rooftop, it's time to prepare to shout "FBI!" and get out the imaginary steering wheel.

It marked Cage's first moment in a full blown action scene, getting to spout all manner of determined one-liners as he goes, while driving an immaculate, bright yellow Ferrari, avoiding Airplane levels of obstacles and culminating in an exploding tram and the theft of a kid's bike. Over the top genius, with a score that now ranks amongst my all time best.

4. "Shoot him again... His soul's still dancing."

Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call - New Orleans (2009)

Thank god for the Bad Lieutenant. At a time when people were questioning Cage's integrity to pick roles that were as edgy and exciting as those at the start of his career, along came director Werner Herzog to inject a fresh integrity into proceedings, while simultaneously making a cracking film.

I foolishly neglected it in my 'films of the year' contribution (which I confess I rather hurried), but it gathered quite a bit of attention from my fellow writers, both on and off this site, and for good reason.

After watching Bad Lieutenant, I had to take a moment to try and absorb the film in its entirety, not just on its critical merit, but for exuding the kind of feeling and tone that contemporary cinema doesn't seem to possess any more.

It threw me back to the kind of independent cinema that I first discovered after seeing Wild At Heart for the first time (which is noted below), and more importantly, had a performance from Cage that left me utterly affected and excited.

The eccentricities and addictions of the titular lieutenant, Terence McDonagh, fit Mr Cage with an eerie ease, combining every aspect of his performances over the years into one big ball of psychosis.

I can't contextualise this particular moment in great detail, as it would spoil the film too much, but take the above quote, mix it with the kind of surreal visuals that would normally befit a Coen Brothers film, the Sonny Terry track, Lost John, and you're some way there.

3. "You can never, never ask me to stop drinking." / "I am like a prickly pear!"

Leaving Las Vegas (1995)

Vegas was the film that won Cage an Oscar in 1996, which was dubbed ‘The Year of the Independents', with the equally brilliant Fargo winning an award for Frances McDormand too. It's the last Oscars I really remember watching with any passion, as if my brain had accepted that things would never be that well awarded ever again, which was fairly correct, it turns out.

The film basically follows one man's quest to drink himself to death. Not an especially cheery premise, I'll grant you, but portrayed in a bittersweet way, while also choosing to incorporate a different kind of love story. It was an incredible high note that marked Cage's temporary hiatus from independent film (as Las Vegas was promptly followed by his action trilogy), adding little glamour to the effects of alcoholism, with even his physical appearance shown in alarmingly grim detail.

During my second year at University, I suffered from a slightly bleak patch of isolation and dealt with the problem in time-honoured fashion, by trying to drink away the problem. Thankfully, it didn't last too long, but during that period Vegas' Ben Sanderson and I became quite familiar, with my regular refusal to go out with my housemates, trumped by a night in with Cage, a stack of beer and some whisky. It's funny to look back on now, but a word of warning kids: don't try this at home.

As with most of his films, it's very difficult to pick just one moment, especially in a film as beautifully tragic as Leaving Las Vegas, so I'm going to cheat and pick two for their own particular reasons.

The two moments represent both the tragic nature of the films' anti-hero and the black comedy that runs throughout. When Ben tells his newfound companion, Sera (Elisabeth Shue), that she can never ask him to stop drinking, it marks his resolution to the cause which few films ever choose to do, especially in a world of happy endings. It's a definitive moment and utterly believable when you've witnessed everything that's happened before. It's heartbreaking in its restraint and only made worse by the perfect performances.

Then there's the 'prickly pear' incident.

Drunk beyond belief, Ben falls backward into a glass table, and upon standing, broken glass embedded in his back, says, "I am like a prickly pear!" It always, always had me in hysterics (probably because I was drunk) and is seemingly always remembered by my friends when Cage is mentioned. This may be on account of it being shouted in pubs repeatedly, while some idiot fell backwards off his bar stool, on more than one occasion. Hero worship can be a dangerous thing.

2. "Put the bunny back in the box."

Con Air (1997)

There's long been a debate about which is the superior action Cage action flick between Con Air and The Rock. But as much as I adore them both, I have to admit that Air just steals the crown. It does so by ceasing to try and stick to the confines of reality, choosing to become almost cartoonish in tone at times, literally, if watching John Malkovich's ACME-styled encounter with multiple fatalities, which seems to have divided most people I know that have seen it.

I remember seeing it at the cinema on a date and being struck by two things. That I had never witnessed an action movie literally act on every whim my crazed brain wanted to see, right down to thinking that an unlikely chase scene at the end would make Air one of the best things I'd ever seen. And that if your date says she loves Con Air, then you probably should keep your enthusiasm in check (though with that said, my fiancée is quite the fan).

Unusually, Cage's Cameron Poe, is the one of the most normal characters in the piece, surrounded by a small army of colourfully named psychopaths, none more so than Geek's much loved Steve Buscemi as Garland Greene. But it's Poe's much quoted confrontation with Billy Bedlam that I have to choose.

Try not to laugh, but it's the heart and emotional connection I have with Con Air that makes it so good, as I'm a sucker for action movie melodrama. From Poe's initial and unfair jailing to the (normally tear-filled) resolution, I can't help but feel for his plight and it's down to a subdued and southern-twanged Cage that I care. But you know what's better than a good family drama? Breaking people's faces.

When Poe finds his cover as a lifelong convict blown by Bedlam in the underbelly of the plane, we finally get to see Poe in action after a long build up and all, comically, focused around the cheap looking bunny rabbit toy that he intends to give to the young daughter he's never met. As Bedlam throws the bunny to the floor, charging at Poe, we also get the awesome Con Air theme used in all its squealing, 80s rock guitar glory. In fact, I can't think of a better action anthem to accompany acts of heroic violence.

I should probably stop writing about Con Air now.

1. "This is a snakeskin jacket... and for me it's a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom."

Wild At Heart (1990)

Ah, the movie that started it all, and in the least glamorous way imaginable. My teenage self was kicking around the school grounds with a friend when we made a discovery of potentially pornographic proportions: a video tape, discarded in the undergrowth, with the words ‘Wild at Heart' written on the side.

Anyone who spent their teenage years in the pre-Internet wilderness will appreciate that finding it often did involve wilderness itself, as the mysterious habit of people discarding filth in woods and the like was a common occurrence. However, this time I had no idea that the film in question would prove to be something even better and, in its own way, change the way I looked at cinema.

Wild At Heart proved to be the start of an accessible road to the cinematic work of David Lynch, and due to my love of Heart, helped me to break into American independent cinema and films by such overlooked auteurs as Hal Hartley. More relevantly, it would also mark the start of an eternal hero worship for Nic Cage himself.

As lead Sailor Ripley, Cage plays the kind of character who is unattainably cool, especially to an insecure teenage boy. Sailor smokes, fights, sings and kills, all without hesitation, in the name of love, while constantly enthusing about his snakeskin jacket's importance. It's also incredible how many Cage-isms are established in full effect in Wild at Heart: the whole arm pointing, a literal embodiment of Elvis Presley (one of Cage's real life obsessions) in his performance and singing throughout the soundtrack, the mania and violent outbursts.

The moment that I've chosen, therefore, which reflects the best of the character and Cage himself, comes when Sailor and Lula (played by an incandescent Laura Dern) hit a local club and cut loose on the dance floor, as Cage throws his Elvis moves with abandon, cigarette in mouth, until someone makes the mistake of hitting on his girl.

Stopping the music (which happens to be the track Slaughterhouse, by Power Mad, and is used incidentally throughout the film during acts of sex and violence as a recurring motif, like the snakeskin jacket) with one flick of the devil horns, Sailor offers the random guy a chance to walk away. The guy declines and is consequently owned in one swift movement that also extinguishes Sailor's discarded cigarette. The punter duly apologises, Sailor tells him to go and get himself a beer, before breaking into Elvis' Love Me and having sex.

Effortlessly cool to this day.

Other moments that nearly made the cut:

"I'd never tried brown-brown before, but then I'd never killed a man either." - Lord Of War (2005)

"I was made for this sewer baby and I am the king! - Snake Eyes (1998)

"I'm Castor Troy!" - Face/Off (1997)

Head to the comments to share moments when The Cage made an impact on you.

Drive Angry 3D arrives in UK cinemas on Friday 25th February.

You can also follow Duncan's one track mind on Twitter here.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

Heading to cinemas at the end of this month is the return of Jason Statham to the big screen. He's not been away from it long, to be fair, having starred alongside Sylvester Stallone last summer in The Expendables. But here, he's headlining a remake of the Michael Winner-directed Charles Bronson vehicle, The Mechanic.

Taking a supporting role in the film is Donald Sutherland, and he spared us a few minutes (literally, sadly), for a quick face-to-face chat about the film.

Back when you made Pride And Prejudice a few years ago, you said at the time that you nearly turned down the role because you were "too old, too busy and too Canadian" to do it. What was it about The Mechanic that passed those tests?

Oh, my god. The Mechanic, I'm the right age, and being Canadian didn't make any difference. [laughs] And I wasn't busy!

How long did you work on the film?

I think it was a couple of days. Two, maybe three.

And do you enjoy making films such as these, that play towards a blockbuster audience?

They [the blockbuster audience] should go [see it].

But I tell you who should really go [see the film] is any son who's got a father, and any father who has a son. Because that actually is what the film is about. It's about the relationship between fathers and sons, surrogate fathers and sons, grief and loss and shame and regret. And hope. It's a terrific film. It really is a terrific film.

It's couched in that action genre mystique. And the action's fantastic. And the sex is illuminating! And what Jason does as an actor, the development, wonderful.

[There's a] scene with Ben Foster in the truck, he's able to express grief and regret from his soul, his heart, truthfully. It's just wonderful to see.

And the character that Ben Foster creates is mind-boggling.

I think he's strong in the film.

He's just brilliant. To go through all the swings, the changes of anger and hatred, resentment, just all of it put together. And arrogance, and smugness, and ‘I can do this better than my father ever could'. Wow. He's just wonderful.

But it's all Simon West. It's all the director. He changed that film. He drove the production mad because he changed everything, all the way up to the beginning of shooting. He did a wonderful job.

And you know, me, I want to look at it again. And my hope is that people will go into that cinema, go into it seeing an action picture, and come out of it saying, "I think I should phone my son," or "Maybe I should phone my dad." Or maybe, "My dad and I should go see this together."

Just before we finish, one off-topic question. There are certain similarities between what's happening in the world with Julian Assange and the Wikileaks saga, and the role of X that you played in Oliver Stone's JFK. What are your thoughts on that?

[Pause] The truth will set you free.

Julian Assange, I mean, the Americans have a very good relationship with Sweden, very persuasive. It's bullshit. It's real bullshit. It's real bullshit.

I mean diplomacy is diplomacy, but... Henry Kissinger once described it as a chess game. It's not a chess game. Chess is war. Diplomacy is supposed to be dealing.

I admire Julian Assange.

Sadly, just as he was warming to the topic, and clearly wanted to discuss it more, our time was up. As we packed up our stuff, he started talking about his character in JFK to us, and how he was supposed to be based on L. Fletcher Prouty. But the clock had beaten us, and we, guttingly, never got the chance to follow this up. Maybe one day...

The Mechanic is released on 28th January 2011.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

We start our viewing week by saying goodbye to the current series of QI, the Stephen Fry-hosted panel show that forever ruined sunsets for me and millions by revealing in a recent episode that the gorgeous glowing orb we see on the horizon isn't really there. It's already gone, leaving behind a mere optical illusion to trick us all and make us feel stupid when we learn the truth. I'd rather know than be fooled for a lifetime, but it still smarts. The ninth series concludes tonight, Friday, January 14th at 8:30pm on BBC1, or catch the XL version, with extra bits, on BBC2 at 10:30pm on Saturday January 15th.

Following on QI's heels is The Tick, the 2001-2002 live action version starring Patrick Warburton in a role he is perfectly suited for, if you'll pardon the pun, as it still fits, and snugly. This mad series of the good but goofy superhero was far too short at only nine episodes, but at least it's had a resurrection, something rare in short but sweet series runs. The pilot airs tonight, Friday, January 14th at 9:00pm on Syfy, followed by episode 2, The Terror, at 9:30pm. Tune in for the OTT toon-ish action.

Vamp fans can then switch over to FX for the third series premiere of True Blood. The first of a dozen episodes is entitled Bad Blood and picks up from the prior season at a fair pace, with Sookie frantically trying to track down the vanished Bill, with little aid from the authorities, and having to turn to Eric for help. That can only lead to interesting things, so to see where it begins, watch tonight, Friday, January 14th at 10:00pm.

Or, if you're more partial to a bit of improvisation, you can tune to BBC2 instead for Fast And Loose, a show hosted by Hugh Dennis that sounds similar to Whose Line Is It Anyway? except that new, rather than established, well known comedians take part in the scenes, with material suggested by the host and audience. This could be a more down and dirty way to learn about fresh and funny talent than the typical televised stand-up spots and panel shows reveal. The first of eight episodes airs tonight, Friday, January 14th at 10:00pm.

Another new show for comedy connoisseurs comes along on Sunday, January 16th at 10:00pm on Channel 4 with Comic's Choice. Hosted by Bill Bailey, it runs for five consecutive nights (leading up to the The British Comedy Awards on Saturday, January 22nd at 9:00pm on Channel 4). It features five comedians - Alan Davies (Sunday), Lee Mack (Monday), Jo Brand (Tuesday), Jessica Hynes (Wednesday), and Sean Lock (Thursday) - talking about other comedians, their inspirations, favourites, and who they'd nominate for awards. Again, the chance for a closer, more frank look into the minds of the funniest of us is rife with possibilities.

And lastly, another comedy source we're very hopeful about is 10 O'Clock Live. The show will feature topical subjects and interviews, investigations and opinion pieces, which could be pretty dry stuff unless it's David Mitchell, Jimmy Carr, Charlie Brooker and Lauren Laverne applying their brand to proceedings. Facing news of disasters and disappointments is always a little easier when a professional funny person is doling it out to us. So, we'll be tuning in starting Thursday, January 20th at 10:00pm on Channel 4, when the first of a generous 15 episodes airs.

Now, on to the films showing through the weekend and a bit beyond. As always, if we missed anything interesting, have a shout in the comments, with our thanks.

Please also note: the ordinal numbers for dates will help you scan through this simple list with your browser's search function. Enter '15th' in your browser's Find box or window to highlight and/or tab through all movies shown on Saturday. Enjoy!

Aeon Flux
On: E4
Date: Sunday 16th January
Time: 11:00pm (and midnight E4+1)

An American Werewolf In London
On: horror channel
Date: Friday 14th January
Time: 10:55pm

Beetlejuice
On: FIVER
Date: Monday 17th January
Time: 9:00pm (and 10:00pm Fiver+1)

Blazing Saddles
On: TCM
Date: Sunday 16th January
Time: 9:00pm (and 2:15am 17th Jan)

Clear And Present Danger
On: Film4
Date: Saturday 15th January
Time: 9:00pm (and 10:00pm Film4+1)

Collateral
On: Film4
Date: Sunday 16th January
Time: 9:00pm (and 10:00pm Film4+1)

Dawn Of The Dead (2004)
On: Film4
Date: Friday 14th January
Time: 11:40pm (and 00:40am 15th Jan Film4+1)

Deep Blue Sea
On: ITV2
Date: Saturday 15th January
Time: 11:35pm (and 00:35am ITV2+1)

Explorers
On: Film4
Date: Sunday 16th January
Time: 4:50pm (and 5:50pm Film4+1)

From Hell
On: Five
Date: Thursday 20th January
Time: 10:00pm

Full Metal Jacket
On: ITV4
Date: Saturday 15th January
Time: 10:05pm (and 11:05pm ITV4+1, 10:35/11:35pm 19th Jan)

Highlander
On: ITV1
Date: Wednesday 19th January
Time: 10:35pm

If...
On: Film4
Date: Thursday 20th January
Time: 01:15am (and 2:15am Film4+1)

Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade
On: BBC 1
Date: Wednesday 19th January
Time: 8:00pm

Innerspace
On: TCM
Date: Saturday 15th January
Time: 3:00pm (and 5:30pm 16th Jan)

Innocent Blood
On: horror channel
Date: Saturday 15th January
Time: 00:55am

Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978)
On: Film4
Date: Wednesday 19th January
Time: 5:15pm (and 6:15 Film4+1)

Le Diner De Cons
On: BBC 4
Date: Sunday 16th January
Time: 10:30pm (and 11:00pm 20th Jan)

Lifeboat
On: Film4
Date: Sunday 16th January
Time: 3:00pm (and 4:00pm Film4+1)

Logan's Run
On: Five
Date: Sunday 16th January
Time: 4:45pm

Moby Dick (1998)
On: Five USA
Date: Sunday 16th January
Time: 12:25pm (and 1:25pm Five USA+1)

My Cousin Vinny
On: Sky2
Date: Saturday 15th January
Time: 9:00pm

Needful Things
On: BBC 1
Date: Monday 17th January
Time: 00:15am

Pulp Fiction
On: BBC 3
Date: Wednesday 19th January
Time: 10:00pm

Reservoir Dogs
On: Five USA
Date: Saturday 15th January
Time: 10:00pm (and 11:00pm Five USA+1)

School Of Rock
On: Channel 4
Date: Sunday 16th January
Time: 5:25pm (and 6:25pm)

Silent Hill
On: Film4
Date: Saturday 15th January
Time: 11:40pm (and 00:40am 16th Jan Film4+1)

Silver Streak
On: Film4
Date: Saturday 15th January
Time: 4:55pm (and 5:55pm Film4+1)

Slither
On: Film4
Date: Saturday 15th January
Time: 01:40am (and 2:40am Film4+1)

Star Trek: Generations
On: Film4
Date: Saturday 15th January
Time: 1:00pm (and 2:00pm Film4+1)

Star Trek: First Contact
On: Film4
Date: Monday 17th January
Time: 6:50pm (and 7:50pm Film4+1)

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack Of The Clones
On: ITV1
Date: Saturday 15th January
Time: 3:30pm

Starship Troopers
On: BBC 1
Date: Friday 14th January
Time: 11:30pm

Synecdoche, New York
On: Film4
Date: Monday 17th January
Time: 10:55pm (and 11:55pm Film4+1)

The Basketball Diaries
On: TCM
Date: Tuesday 18th January
Time: 11:30pm

The Book Of Eli
On: Sky Movies Premiere
Date: Friday 14th January
Time: 10:00pm (and 110:00pm Premiere+1, then daily at similar times through 20th Jan)

The Bourne Identity
On: ITV2
Date: Sunday 16th January
Time: 10:00pm (and 11:00pm ITV2+1)

The Bourne Supremacy
On: ITV2
Date: Monday 17th January
Time: 10:00pm (and 11:00pm ITV2+1)

The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian
On: BBC 3
Date: Sunday 16th January
Time: 8:00pm

The Evil Dead
On: horror channel
Date: Saturday 15th January
Time: 10:55pm (and 10:55pm 29th Jan)

The Hitcher (1986)
On: ITV4
Date: Monday 17th January
Time: 10:00pm (and 11:00pm ITV4+1)

The Hunt For Red October
On: Film4
Date: Friday 14th January
Time: 9:00pm (and 10:00pm Film4+1)

The Last Samurai
On: ITV2
Date: Friday 14th January
Time: 9:00pm (and 10:00pm ITV2+1)

The Sting
On: ITV1
Date: Thursday 20th January
Time: 02:35am

The Talented Mr. Ripley
On: more4
Date: Friday 14th January
Time: 9:00pm (and 00:45am 15th Jan)

The Terminator
On: BBC
Date: Saturday 15th January
Time: 9:45pm

Twister
On: ITV2
Date: Sunday 16th January
Time: 6:45pm (and 7:45pm ITV2+1)

Wallace And Gromit: A Close Shave
On: BBC 3
Date: Sunday 16th January
Time: 7:00pm

Wallace And Gromit: The Wrong Trousers
On: BBC 3
Date: Sunday 16th January
Time: 7:30pm

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

After the very public dispute between Infinity Ward and publisher Activision last year, which led to the departure of studio founders Vince Zampella and Grant Collier (not to mention 22 loyal members of staff), many predicted that the next Call Of Duty installment would be handled by an entirely different developer.

As any shooter fanatic will already know, it’s become something of a tradition for the COD franchise to be divided between two studios, Infinity Ward and Treyarch, with each taking turns to release a new installment every year. And with Treyarch’s Black Ops currently raking in tons of cash, talk has already begun regarding the next game.

Industry crystal ball gazer Michael Pachter predicted last month that, given Activision’s dispute with Infinity Ward, the next COD game would be put together by Sledgehammer Games, the new studio set up by former Visceral heads Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey.

"Activision was intentionally opaque about who was working on next year's game, and specifically refused to acknowledge whether the next game was being made by Infinity Ward or Sledgehammer when I asked them directly about it,” Pachter told Eurogamer.

The confirmation that Sledgehammer is indeed making the next COD game comes from Gamasutra, where the studio placed a job post for “the next Call Of Duty game”.

While details about the game are understandably thin on the ground at this stage, it’s not unreasonable to suggest that the next COD game will be none other than Modern Warfare 3. On his Twitter feed, Glen Schofield suggested that the studio was consulting members of the military for inspiration. "Working w/ military guys - their stories will blow you away. Names/locations will change but some situations going in the game - real stuff,” Schofield wrote. Could this be a sign that the game will be set in the present day, as opposed to the historical skirmishes seen in games such as Black Ops and World At War? Or will the next COD game really be set in space, as rumours late last year suggested?

Since every Call Of Duty game since the dawn of time has arrived just in time for Christmas, you can be sure that the Activision marketing machine to click into gear over the next few months.

Eurogamer

We knew it was coming when the first set snaps of Andrew Garfield on the set of the Spider-Man reboot appeared last week. But now we have it: the first proper look at what he'll look like in the webslinger's costume.

Sony has released the shot, which you can see here, and the shoot now continues for a few more months yet, ahead of the film's release in the summer of 2012.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

4.2 Debbie

You can say what you like about Not Going Out, and I'm a fully signed up fan of the show, but its hit rate and laugh count consistently impress. And it did once more, again, in last night's episode.

For me, the genius moment of this particular episode came with the mixing of a meeting between Lee and his date-turned-possible-daughter with an 80s karaoke night.

The whole scene was structured around the moment when Debbie The Possible Daughter dropped the bombshell that Lee might be her dad, just as the camera pulls round to Tim belting out the theme tune to Surprise, Surprise. Just a little contrived? Oh, yes. Funny? Most certainly. And we had Tim quoting Jennifer Lopez lines as well.

It was a smashing opening ten minutes to another fine episode (and if you were being very picky, you might suggest the back end could match the start). No wonder Lee Mack and Andrew Collins' script returned for another bite at the gag, successfully again, later in the episode.

From there, the episode flitted between flashbacks and the present day, as the theme of it became finding out just who was the father of Debbie. Lee Mack and Tim Vine had fun with this, too, and they're a successful double act here.

So, was it Tim, or was it Lee? Well, it didn't take much working out, but as usual, it didn't really matter.

Because once more, Not Going Out crackled with strong one-liners. It's refreshing, I say again, to find a sitcom that has such a strong hit rate with its jokes. Even though this episode didn't quite hit the heights of the series opener last week (which set a very high standard, for my money), there were still regular, solid laughs. And a smashed up crazy golf course.

There were not uncommon comedy staples here: the vertically-challenged character, a couple of northern jokes, the assorted strands of the ‘who is your father' story. And in lesser hands, it could all go very wrong.

But it didn't. And instead, for the second week running, I'm hoping that someone in the commissioning towers of the BBC is watching this show, laughing at it, and realising that more episodes need to be commission. The naan joke alone, wonderfully built up to for a single line, is worthy of at least calling in a meeting to discuss it.

Not Going Out might not be the most radical comedy on television. But heck, it sure knows how to get its laughs...

Read our review of the series 4 opener, Drugs, here.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

Zack Snyder continues to put the finishing touches to what's arguably the first massive blockbuster of the year, Sucker Punch. And as he does so, the promotional campaign for the action fantasy movie continues to spark into life.

The latest addition to it? This brand new poster for the film, which is a fair reflection of the trailers for the movie that we've seen to date.

The film itself is due on March 25th in the US, and April 1st in the UK. And once Mr Snyder is done with it, of course, he's off to make the Superman reboot. Busy times...!

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

Courtesy of an Entertainment Weekly cover, we've already had one glimpse as to how Chris Evans is looking as the title character in this summer's Captain America movie. And now, EW has released a full shot of just how Evans looks in the superhero's costume. Which you can see here.

The film arrives on July 22nd, and a trailer is due shortly, although we understand that it's been slightly delayed, so it may be a couple of weeks away yet.

EW

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

Disney is clearly confident that its big tentpole picture this year, Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, is going to deliver for the studio. And with good reason: as critically maligned as the last film in the franchise to date was, At World's End still brought in scary amounts of money.

It seems to have learned from its mistakes, too, as instead of getting through sequels as quickly as possible, to the detriment of any kind of logical script, it took its time pressing ahead with On Stranger Tides, and it's putting the wheels in motion now for a fifth adventure.

Johnny Depp has told Entertainment Weekly, too, that he'd be happy to board Pirates Of The Caribbean 5 and that discussions regarding a further sequel have already taken place. "As long as we can put all the puzzle pieces together, I would most definitely consider it," he said.

Disney has thus gone one stage further, and Deadline now reports that it's already employed Terry Rossio, who worked with Ted Elliott on the first four films, to begin work on a screenplay for a fifth. Elliott won't be joining him this time around, though.

For now, Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is released on May 20th.

EW
Deadline

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

Although we recently looked at the difficulties of adapting superheroes to videogames, it’s worth remembering that not every superhero videogame is adapted from a comic book or movie. Some of them are created for the medium itself.

As with comics, the superhero archetype has evolved along with the entertaining culture it’s embedded in, but how closely? To celebrate the release of DC Universe Online, let’s have a look...

Alex Kidd (1986)
Sega Master System

As the star of Alex Kidd In Miracle World, which came built into the Sega Master System, Alex Kidd was created in the superhero style, if not necessarily one in the traditional sense.

With a secret royal heritage and the ability to shatter rocks using his fists, Alex Kidd appeared in numerous games until 1991, when Sega booted him as their mascot in favour of a blue-tinted, attitude-spouting hedgehog who is now best known for appearing in mediocre games.

Superkid (1990)
Spectrum, Amstrad CPC & Commodore 64

Although the character was as derivative as its name suggests, Superkid was nevertheless an 8-bit classic.

Was it the fact that you got to rescue helpless citizens, use your powers to fly all the way into space, and explore several different levels that made it great? Or was it the fact that you could punch helpless old biddies so hard that they literally popped? I’ll let you decide on that front.

Captain Commando (1991)
Arcade

Since Mario had proven that all gaming companies needed a mascot, Capcom took a character who had appeared in its manuals since 1986, recast him as a superhero from the future, and placed him in a self-titled side-scrolling arcade beat ‘em up, although anyone with any sense played as Mack the Knife, one of his three companions.

Judge Dredd meets Captain America, Captain Commando has since gained new life as a playable character in the Vs. Capcom series of fighting games.

Kid Chameleon (1992)
Mega Drive/Genesis

Heralding the arrival of the 90s proper was Kid Chameleon, and if you don’t believe me, just look at this list of attributes: skateboard, check. Mirrored shades, check. Leather jacket, check. First name: Casey, check and mate. And to top it off, the game was set in a virtual reality world.

If there’s a game more 90s than that, it probably starred Zack Morris.

Kid Chameleon had the ability to transform into a number of different characters, each with their own unique powers. One (Cyclone) was specifically a superhero and another, EyeClops, was clearly influenced by the X-Men’s Cyclops. (It was the 90s, after all!)

Earthworm Jim (1994)
Mega Drive/Genesis & SNES

Strangely, although cut from the same cloth that gave us zany indie comic successes like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Sam & Max (indeed, creator Doug TenNapel later became a comic book author) Earthworm Jim was an entirely original creation for gaming.

Jim, a worm in a robotic suit, faced a variety of bizarre and surreal obstacles.

Fondly remembered for its humour even today, Earthworm Jim spawned several sequels, but, like many, the franchise was ultimately killed off by a premature attempt to realise the character in 3D during the late 90s.

Comix Zone (1995)
Mega Drive/Genesis

With indie graphic novelists turning their creations into big business (Matt Groening, Eastman & Laird, Steve Purcell), it was only a matter of time before the comic artists became the stars, and that happened here, in Comix Zone.

When a bolt of lightning brings his creations to life, artist Sketch Turner becomes trapped in his own comic, fighting his way to freedom. The game faithfully reproduced a comic book aesthetic in which the player moved from panel to panel and characters had their own speech bubbles when they talked. Good fun, even if it was rock hard.

After all that, in 1997, a little movie called Batman And Robin made the very idea of superheroes so toxic that, for years, it seemed like no one wanted to take a chance on their own, instead content to release adaptations and sequels featuring existing characters. And besides which, everyone was busy playing Pokémon and Final Fantasy.

It wasn’t until the X-Men movie made superheroes acceptable again that we got...

Freedom Force (2002)
PC

A tactical RPG with a cast the size of Stan Lee’s royalty cheques, Freedom Force put players in control of the superheroes of Patriot City as they defended their home against all manner of villains.

Its developers shamelessly imitated existing Marvel and DC heroes/villains, but when the companies themselves weren’t providing, who can blame them? Besides a chancing lawyer, I mean.

The game was very well received and a sequel, Freedom Force Vs. The Third Reich, was released in 2005, alongside a comic book adaptation of the first game.

Viewtiful Joe (2003)
GameCube, PlayStation 2

It took two decades, but Capcom finally returned to original superheroes with Viewtiful Joe, in which the protagonist, Joe, finds himself inside the world of his favourite character, Captain Blue (tellingly, a cinematic, rather than comic book superhero) and given superpowers of his own to rescue his girlfriend.

With fantastic, cel-shaded graphics, Viewtiful Joe combined platforming, puzzles and combat, and received almost universally high ratings. Though we’re still waiting for a third game in the series...

City Of Heroes (2004)
PC

With superheroes firmly back in public favour following the well-received Spider-Man and X-Men movie sequels, it’s no surprise that a company put together a superhero universe that gave players the chance to create their own. Even if that did mean they had to go around deleting characters that looked too similar to existing, copyrighted creations.

Praised on release as being a fresh addition to a genre which was overrun with fantasy franchises, the City Of Heroes MMO is still going strong today, having recently merged with its own sequel, City Of Villains.

Crackdown (2007)
Xbox 360

Although some might argue that a game which puts you in charge of a superpowered policeman isn’t really a superhero game (especially given the game’s ending!), it’s close enough for us. After all, as you play the game, you build up your superpowers, and by the end you’re able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Sure, you can also score a headshot from a great distance and your car morphs into a futuristic speedster, but those are superpowers of sorts.

Crackdown was the first in a line of original, postmodern superhero creations on games consoles, and great fun to boot. It’s just a shame the 2010 sequel was a load of rubbish.

Infamous (2009)
PlayStation 3

Continuing the postmodern take on superheroes which dominated the latter half of the 00s (e.g. films like Kick-Ass, and TV series like Heroes), Infamous starred Cole MacGrath, a bike courier given electricity-based superpowers, placed in an open-world city, and the chance to become either a hero or villain, depending on the player’s choices.

With the city in disarray following a cataclysmic explosion, the environment was reportedly influenced by Brian Wood’s New York warzone comic, DMZ, and the Batman No Man’s Land arc in which Gotham City is sealed off following a destructive earthquake. Well-regarded by critics and gamers, a sequel is due out this year.

[Prototype] (2009)
PlayStation 3

Lastly, [Prototype], a game with the misfortune to be released the month after Infamous, and featuring curiously similar concepts, a super-powered protagonist running around an open-world city. Still, it’s not like Infamous was the first game to do that. (You have to go back to the Atari 2600 Superman from 1978 to find the one that was!)

Again, like Crackdown and Infamous, [Prototype] isn’t a straight-up superhero game, just a game in which you have superpowers. Ultimately, it reviewed slightly worse than Infamous, but still did well enough to spawn a sequel, the trailer for which debuted last month.

See Also:

• Top ten god-like powers in gaming
• From comic books to videogames
• DC superheroes and how they've fared in videogames

DC Universe Online is available now.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

The shoot for the fourth season of Torchwood, Miracle Day, is now underway in Los Angeles, and a fresh piece of casting news has appeared.

For it's been revealed that Six Feet Under alumnus, Lauren Ambrose, is the latest to join the show. According to EW, she's going to playing Jilly Kitzinger in Torchwood, described as "a sweet-talking PR genius with a heart of stone who's just cornered the most important client of her career... and maybe of all time".

You can read more details on her casting here, and we'll bring you more news on Miracle Day as it arrives...

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

Executive producer James Cameron has brought his cutting-edge Avatar 3D technology to bear on the subterranean world of caves in Sanctum, the Australia-set thriller directed by Alister Grierson.

Ioan Gruffudd is among the team of cave divers who find themselves trapped in a remote and dangerous network of caverns when a flash flood cuts off their only exit. Its man versus nature theme is undoubtedly a familiar one, but Sanctum’s crisp, vibrant visuals look like a real treat for the eyes.

Like Avatar, this looks like the kind of film that will work best on the largest screen possible. Sanctum arrives in UK cinemas on 4 February.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

With a new weekend comes a new release slate. This weekend, The Green Hornet and The Dilemma came up for public appraisal, and the clear winner is Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, and the Black Beauty. Of the two new releases, The Green Hornet was the biggest success, bringing in $34 million in a decent, if a bit soft new release.

The Dilemma was left in the dust, picking up second with 17.4 million bones based solely off of the names Vince Vaughn and Kevin James. I saw The Dilemma this weekend. See my review for further information, if so inclined.

Last week's top film, True Grit, was pushed down to third, but Paramount has to be celebrating yet another eight-digit weekend at theaters. True Grit picked up $11.2 million this weekend, pushing its total in the US alone to $126 million (versus a budget of 38 million bucks). That's a pretty good return on the investment, isn't it?

Of the releases last weekend, the big winner was probably The King's Speech. The Weinstein flick rose five spots in the box office, from ninth last weekend to fourth this weekend, after tacking on another 785 screens and getting a renewed push from Colin Firth picking up a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame last week. The film's $9 million this weekend is forty-one percent higher than last weekend, and it's nudged the film to just under $45 million in total grosses in two quiet months at the box office.

Also celebrating a renewed, widened release is Black Swan, which added 744 screens and kept its box office receipts solid at $8.125 million. The film hangs onto fifth place at the box office, and sits at just under $73 million in the States. Black Swan has grossed more than every other Darren Aronofsky film put together. His next highest grosser, The Wrestler, picked up only $26 million in the US.

Little Fockers, last weekend's second place movie, suffers a tumble this weekend. The further adventures of the Focker clan sinks to sixth place this weekend, though it still took in $7.1 million. So far, The Fockers have claimed $134 million at the US box office, which is very impressive. It's been said this would be the last outing, but with this kind of return on investment, will that actually be the case? I'm not so sure.

Dropping to seventh from fourth is Tron Legacy, which picked up $5.6 million this weekend. So far, the film has brought in $157 million in the United States. Internationally, Tron Legacy has banked $300 million. That's not a bad haul, all things considered. This might be the year of Jeff Bridges. Between this and True Grit, he's turned into box office gold!

Holding onto eighth place is Yogi Bear. Yogi's taken longer than expected, but it has finally returned its initial budget. Yogi has taken in $82 million in the US, versus a budget of $80 million. The film picked up $5.3 million this weekend.

The Fighter sits at ninth, bringing in $5.1 million (and $65 million overall).

Last weekend's only new release, Season Of The Witch, drops from third all the way down to tenth place after the initial rush of curious Cage-o-philes and Ron Perlmaniacs. The flick tacked on another $4.5 million at the box office this weekend, and sits just under $18 million for the fortnight. That's not terribly good, but I have no doubt this movie will make good money on DVD, if only for the Rifftrax version. As for me, I kind of liked it, because it was just so gloriously goofy and illogically bad, plus Ron Perlman and I have an unspoken kinship since we're both bearded Rons.

Out next weekend is the romantic comedy No Strings Attached, in which Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman eventually realize they love one another and should be together. (No, I haven't seen the movie yet, but we all know that's going to happen.) If it sounds familiar, it was because the movie was released a few weeks ago with Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal under the title Love And Other Drugs.

Also out next weekend is the drama The Way Back, which features relative unknown, Dragos Bucur, alongside Colin Farrell and Ed Harris as a Soviet-era prisoner in Siberia who escapes a staggering 4000 miles to end up in India (and subsequent freedom from the Soviet death squads).

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

Business partners and college buddies, Ronny Valentine (Vince Vaughn) and Nick Brannen (Kevin James), are the sort of opposites-attract types you see in buddy movies. Ronny is tall, handsome, and long on charisma, despite being short on brains. Nick is short, pudgy, and as smart as he is awkward.

Between the two of them, they're a complete, functioning person, and that's why they work so well together. Early on in the movie, Ronny tells his lovely girlfriend, Beth (Jennifer Connelly), that Nick is his hero, mostly because Nick has been with his wife and college sweetheart, Geneva (Winona Ryder), for 20 years.

With that in mind, imagine Ronny's surprise when he catches Geneva smooching in public with a handsome young sleazy rocker-type named Zip (Channing Tatum). Now Ronny faces the dilemma that is at the heart of The Dilemma. Does he tell his friend about his wife's infidelity and potentially blow a crucial business deal to provide manly-sounding electric motors to Chrysler? Or does he allow his friend's marriage to continue to be built on a sham, all in the name of business success, in spite of the toll it takes on him personally?

It's a simple enough story made needlessly complicated by all involved in the production.

In an attempt to be too many things to too many people, The Dilemma manages to be nothing to anyone. Despite being sold as a comedy and having a few moments of levity or attempted levity, The Dilemma is actually more of a drama. Actually, it's not even a drama. The Dilemma is like a chick flick that just so happens to star Kevin James and Vince Vaughn. It's a chick flick masquerading as a bromantic comedy. The Dilemma is attempting to be a Judd Apatow film, but without either the filth or the heart to pull it off.

Honestly, the most shameful part of this whole film is Queen Latifah. She's brilliant in her five minutes of screen time, but, really? You couldn't sneak in a few more scenes of her Susan Warner into the film somehow? She's the best part of every scene she's in, and she's one of the only characters in the film to wring out more than a mild chuckle.

Everyone else in the film, from Ronny to Nick and Beth to Geneva, makes little to no lasting impact. They're not really the sort of characters you can care for or root for Nick's a workaholic, Beth's a blank page, Ronny's a scumbag, and the less said about Geneva, the better. Susan is a likable character who seems very interesting, which is why she's not allowed to be on screen for 107 of the film's 112 minutes.

The only really likable character in the film, aside from Queen's Susan, is Ronny's car. For a good portion of the movie, when Ronny is driving around playing detective, I wait for something awful to happen to that beautiful, classic American muscle car. If you're going to give me a drama, I can't care more about an inanimate object than I do any of the living people. If you're going to give me a comedy, I need to be laughing so hard at what may happen to the car that I won't be sad to see it damaged.

Once upon a time, this mix of drama and comedy was right down Ron Howard's wheelhouse. I mean, he did Parenthood, and that's one of the best comedy movies with dramatic elements in cinema history. It's a comedy with substance, an emotional core. But this? This is just an atonal mess of unappealing characters in unsettling situations, and not even in the good, deliberate way.

Without any centering emotion and with a lack of appealing madcap comedy, like what worked so well in Night Shift, what ends up on the screen is a technically competent mess from a director who knows better. Or who used to know better. Maybe 10 years away from the comedy genre (and 20 years from his last good comedy flick) has sucked the skill out of Howard. Maybe he's just a much better director of drama these days. Who knows?

It doesn't help Howard's chances that the script, by Allan Loeb (Things We Lost In The Fire, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps) is completely humor-free. Then again, there's not much you can expect from the guy that wrote The Switch. He's done good work, just not good comedies. Maybe he should stick to dramas and leave the laughter game to folks that can produce a funny script.

I've never seen a movie theater be so silent for so long. I actually heard individual kernels of popcorn being dropped onto the floor behind me. If it wasn't for Queen Latifah, nobody would have managed to break the uncomfortable silence.

US Correspondent Ron Hogan's only dilemma concerning The Dilemma was whether or not to call it the worst comedy of the new year or the worst drama of the new year. Find more by Ron daily at Shaktronics and PopFi.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

There are few directors who can claim to have worked with such talents as Akira Kurosawa, Andrei Tarkovsky and Sylvester Stallone, but Russian filmmaker Andrei Konchalovsky has done just that. In a career that has spanned over 45 years, he directed critically acclaimed dramas such as First Teacher and Uncle Vanya in the 60s and 70s, before moving to the US in the 80s to helm Maria's Lovers, Runaway Train and Tango And Cash.

With a retrospective of some of Konchalovsky's Russian movies appearing at the Barbican this week, we sat down with the director for a brief discussion about filmmaking and the Hollywood film industry...

The Barbican retrospective covers a broad cross-section of your career to date, which spans a period of over 45 years. How do you feel your style has evolved over those decades?

You know, I have no idea. [laughs] I think that's a question for someone who can study my films, which I can't.

Every film is a reflection of the state of mind of the director. I've changed completely over these 45 years, in my understanding of good and evil, let's say. And my understanding of my role as a director, as a creator, as a thinking man has changed.

When I started, I thought I knew everything about movie making. I thought I could leave a scar on the face of this planet, and I thought I was a genius, and I thought I was going to change people forever. All these thoughts a young director can have, because this is a part of ignorance. Arrogance is a part of ignorance.

But optimism, as well, perhaps?           

Optimism as well, but still naïve. I've had enough disappointment and lost a lot of illusions about myself, and changing style constantly, because I was curious and inquisitive. I made comedies and tragedies and melodramas and musicals, like in theatre. So, every time I tried to apply my imagination to a completely different thing.

So, that's why I say I don't have style. There is a core, and the core is philosophy, and philosophy changes, because 45 years ago I thought I knew what was good and bad, but I slowly understood that everything is relative. Maybe sometimes people can be very good, but at the same time very nasty and very bad.

That started, maybe, with Runaway Train, written by Kurosawa. Everything is relative, including freedom. Freedom from what? You cannot be free. Truth doesn't free you. As a matter of fact, truth can enslave you, like Wikileaks.

There is one question that is unresolvable: what is life for? Once, a great Russian actor was asked, "What is life?" and he said, "You ask me what is life, and I ask you, what is a carrot? A carrot is a carrot and life is life." And to understand such a thing is very simple: life is life, and nothing else. But the wonderful English philosopher, John Gray - he's my contemporary, I'd like to meet him - he's written several books, and in one he wrote, "Man is the only animal who can live without purpose."

Man needs a purpose to live. Why he can't find a purpose just in living and seeing? He always has to destroy and build something. So, in that sense, happiness. Man runs after happiness, but for everyone that's different. In the end, you understand that happiness is just in being alive.

It sounds strange, but it's only now that I understand this. I think this explains my indifference to the critics, in a sense. Of course, I'm upset when a critic says my film is a piece of trash. But I cannot say, "Oh, my career is over." No, I prefer to do what I think what I have to do, and be happy that it's done, because success is in finishing a film, not to have a great distribution.

For me, the success is to do the next one. Not this one, but the next one. Then I'm successful, just in making it.

In the 80s, you made the move to America, and made Runaway Train and Tango And Cash. What was your experience working there at the time? Particularly as, when you were making those, there were films like Red Heat and Rocky IV coming out, which had a very skewed view of Russia.

It didn't matter. The Hollywood film industry needs an enemy. For a time there were the Nazis, then the Russians, then terrorists, etc, etc. I don't take it seriously, although it would be good if they could find enemies within.

When I was making films in Hollywood, you should understand that it wasn't as it is now. Hollywood 25 years ago was a vibrant place, where great directors like Scorsese, Coppola, Kubrick were all still making films, and the films cost between three and seven million.

Today, these people are either dead or not working in Hollywood, or have had to apply Hollywood aesthetics to their films.

The Hollywood aesthetic is making film by committee. And filmmaking by committee excludes originality. As David Mamet, the great American playwright, wrote in his book, Bambi Vs Godzilla, "Hollywood is a totalitarian system. You either compromise and collaborate, or you're dead."

And it wasn't like this in the 80s. There are films that are art, and there are films that are entertainment. The mechanic of entertainment is stimulation. Stimulation in roller coasters, videogames, and entertaining films appeal to the animalistic centers in our instinct: survival, fight-of-flight, and sex.

That's why you have entertainment like porno. You can be excited for one thing only, copulation, and you leave, and you're completely empty.

When you see art, you're never empty when you leave, because, besides entertainment and stimulation, you have the enjoyment of understanding human psychology. And that's the big difference.

I'm not against entertainment, I'm just saying art in film fulfills you.

Entertainment in film, like Rambo, doesn't fulfill you. You look at it, and forget it. When you look at a great movie, you never forget it. That's the difference.

Andrei Konchalovsky, thank you very much!

Andrei Konchalovsky's Barbican Directorspective season begins on 20 January with his 2007 film, Gloss.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

It's been almost a decade since director John Carpenter has applied his talents to a cinematic feature, and the big screen has been poorer for his absence. The driving force behind such films as Assault On Precinct 13, Halloween and the classic of grisly horror that is The Thing, Carpenter has been oddly quiet since the abortive Ghosts Of Mars, the 2001 misfire starring Natasha Henstridge and Ice Cube.

When it was announced that Carpenter was returning to feature directing with the supernatural thriller The Ward, I was both thrilled and anxious. Could the former master of horror cinema regain his creative muse in the new millennium?

Early signs are encouraging. In an eerie, well-shot opening scene that both looks and sounds like Dario Argento's Suspiria, we're treated to prowling shots of an underlit mental hospital, the flickering light from a thunderstorm playing off peeling paint and the scratched patina of laminated furniture.

We're then treated to something that has become increasingly rare in modern cinema: a protracted, artfully designed opening credits sequence. This one, which juxtaposes woodcut prints and photographs with splintered glass, recalls the work of Saul Bass, and provides a welcome gateway to Carpenter's film, establishing its sombre mood and its themes of madness and paranoia.

When the words 'John Carpenter's The Ward' flash across the screen, in the same white out of black type the director has used since Halloween, the message appears to be: the Carpenter we once knew is back.

Amber Heard plays Kristen, a disturbed girl of indeterminate age who, having burned down a farmhouse, is despatched to the creepy environs of a sprawling, isolated psychiatric hospital. Under the watchful eye of Doctor Stringer (Mad Men's Jared Harris) and his hard-faced team of orderlies (among them the magnificently named Nurse Lundt), Kristen and her fellow inmates are menaced by a shadowy, malevolent figure.

There are two things that become apparent within a few minutes of The Ward's opening. The first is that the occupants of The Ward are all unusually young, glamorous and make-up clad, from the flirtatious, catty Sarah (Danielle Panabaker) to the bespectacled, artistic Iris (Kick-Ass' Lyndsy Fonseca). The second is that everything about The Ward feels alarmingly familiar, even a little tentative. There are numerous moments - false scares, prowling shots, long shadows - that have been seen myriad times in numerous other slasher horror and suspense movies of the last 30 years.

In fairness, Carpenter established many of these clichés himself in his early work, and it feels at all times that the director wants to stay firmly within his comfort zone, freely referencing the jolts and POV camerawork of Halloween, the hospital setting of its sequel, and the murky atmosphere and sudden slayings of The Fog. One killing, which involves a bout of eye damage worthy of Lucio Fulci, is surprisingly gruesome.

Given that so much of The Ward has been seen before, it's perhaps unsurprising that the film never scales the creative heights of Carpenter's early canon. It is, nevertheless, well-made and, at times, incredibly tense. Carpenter still hasn't lost his ability to generate suspense, and while he's not afraid to tease the audience with cheap tricks, the figure that stalks the hospital's long corridors is an imposing presence, and barely glimpsed until the film's conclusion.

At the film's centre is a great performance from Jared Harris, the doctor who holds the key to the film's mystery, providing an enigmatic spin on the dapper character he plays in Mad Men. The rest of the largely female cast also acquit themselves well, with Amber Heard making the most of a fairly stock horror heroine role.

Sadly, the mystery at The Ward's core will be all too familiar to anyone who's seen more than a handful of recent horror thrillers, and its denouement is so similar to at least three other movies that I dare not mention their names for fear of spoiling what occurs.

The Ward, therefore, marks a bittersweet return from erstwhile genius John Carpenter. There are hints everywhere of the director's early talent, from the film's economical, panther-like cinematography to its measured build up of tension, but its promise is sadly undercut by a story that never rises above genre cliché. Its escape attempts, revelations and murders all occur in a decidedly familiar pattern, and while The Ward isn't without a few red herrings, its conclusion is simply too familiar to really satisfy.

Compared to his last film, Ghosts Of Mars, The Ward nevertheless marks a return to form for one of America's great horror directors. It's far from perfect, but it contains enough scares and artistry to recommend to anyone who shuddered through Carpenter's earlier work, even if it's sometimes difficult to escape the feeling that he deserves better than the material he's directing.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.