Juno

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Juno scene

Rising star Ellen Page stars as a smart-talking 16-year-old Juno MacGuff, who gets pregnant the first time she has sex with fellow virgin Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera). Unable to face the prospect of abortion, Juno decides to give up the baby up for adoption, so she finds a loving but childless couple Mark and Vanessa (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner) through the want ads in a local paper.

However, as she spends more time with the couple, she discovers that their marriage isn’t quite picture-perfect as it first appeared. Meanwhile, Juno’s father (J.K. Simmons), stepmother (Allison Janney) and best friend Leah (Olivia Thirlby) offer as much help as they can.

Nominated by four Academy Awards in the run up to this year’s Oscars, including Best Picture, Juno is an engaging and witty teen comedy written by a former stripper now blogger Diablo Cody. The script provides plenty of laughs with some razor-sharp dialogue throughout the running time of 96 minutes.

Ellen Page is fabulous in the leading role, with her enthusiastic personality and dry-wit. Some people may remember Ellen from her shining performance in Hard Candy back in 2005, in which many critics praised her for “one of the most complex, disturbing and haunting performances of the year”. With a nomination for the Best Actress award in the 2008 Academy Awards, Ellen is on route to becoming a future star of Hollywood.

As for the supporting cast, it is great to see several star names I recognised from past television and movie roles appearing in Juno. Michael Cera and Jason Bateman from Arrested Development, Jennifer Garner (Alias) and Allison Janney (The West Wing). Each of them playing their roles superbly alongside Ellen.

Even though the subject matter may seem controversial on the whole pregnancy/childbirth/adoption issue, director Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking) sets an up-beat tone with a great soundtrack, colourful production design and a delightful animated opening credits sequence. Despite the ‘feel good’ attitude, Juno manages to address the abortion versus adoption issue in a surprisingly mature way – with the final scenes in particular emotionally moving.

Probably the best independent film since Little Miss Sunshine, Juno is a hilariously teen comedy with delightful characters working with a fantastic script. Highly recommended.

Jack Bauer will be back… in 2009

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Kiefer Sutherland jacket

Due to the 14-week Writers’ Strike in Hollywood – which has now been resolved – the latest season of Jack Bauer’s new nightmare day has been postponed until the following year.

American television network Fox has decided that the show’s seventh season will be delayed until January 2009 to ensure that Day 7 of 24 can air uninterrupted, in it’s entirety.

The show’s latest season was set to begin last January and run without a break, but in November, strike complications forced Fox to delay the season premiere to an unspecified time. Now, Fox has called 2008 a loss for the show and will run season seven in January 2009. Which is bad news for fans and Kiefer…

The crew has already shot eight episodes of this season, which sees the action move to Washington, DC, instead of Los Angeles. If Fox had opted to continue production of the show this year, there would have been a lengthy break before the newly produced episodes would air. Because 24 are heavily serialized, Fox wanted to ensure the seventh season was aired uninterrupted.

I bet Kiefer Sutherland is kicking himself, as the actor opted to serve a portion of his jail sentence for a DUI charge over the holidays in order to avoid slowing down the production of the show… Now it seems he has do something else to fill in the time before playing the role as the hard-charge CTU agent.

In addition, 24’s seventh season will be the first without co-creator Joel Surnow. He will leave his duties to pursue other projects.

Cloverfield

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Cloverfield movie

Thanks to its clever viral marketing on MySpace and countless other websites devoting to the movie, J.J. Abrams’ ambitions homage to monster flicks takes a new step further by providing an unique viewpoint on a giant creature destroying Manhattan.

The film begins as if someone is watching a videotape that has been found after a mysterious incident in New York City, codenamed ‘Cloverfield’. We briefly see images of a young good-looking couple, Robert Hawkins (Michael Stahl-David) and Elizabeth “Beth” McIntyre (Odette Yustman) before we realise that someone has taped over their day at Coney Island with footage of Rob’s leaving party, before he heads off to Japan.

However, during the party there’s an attack on New York by an initially unseen monster and everyone runs for the streets, just in time to witness the head of the Statue of Liberty come crashing to the ground. With one of his friends still filming – Hudson “Hud” Platt (T. J. Miller) – in the same style of the Blair Witch Project, Rob and his friends risk their lives to rescue Beth before attempting to flee the city.

The action sequences in Cloverfield are pretty intense with echoes to the chaotic moments that followed 9/11, with buildings crumbling to rubble and panic in the city streets. The use of a video camera shot from the victim perspective is a distinctive step of documentary events as it unfolds. Sure, the camerawork might cause some viewers to become ill with the constant shaking and movement but in the age of Web 2.0 and YouTube, the director – Matt Reeves – handles the central concept extremely well, perfectly capturing the sense of fear and mayhem, while maintaining exactly the sort of breathless pace that you’d expect if you were fleeing a giant monster.

Cloverfield is certainly frightening that you left thinking that this attack could happen… The only criticism is all that running and screaming doesn’t provide enough characterisation or dialogue. In addition, we don’t get any back-story on why this monster is here in New York City stomping, eating and causing as much damage as possible.

Despite that, the film is superbly directed with some skilful use of editing – from the happier times of Rob and Beth to the horror of his close friends dying one by one… Cloverfield is an enjoyable thriller that adds a modern twist to the Godzilla-style monster movie, though it’s slightly let down by its characters and plot.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street

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Sweeney Todd J Depp

Based on the stage musical by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street stars Johnny Depp as Benjamin Baker, who returns to 19th century London after fifteen years in exile, seeking revenge against Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman), who imprisoned Barker and stole his wife (Laura Michelle Kelly) and infant daughter.

Renaming himself as Sweeney Todd, Benjamin sets himself up as a barber, above a grotesque pie shop run by Mrs Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), who has always secretly loved him.When Todd kills a blackmailing rival barber (Sacha Baron Cohen), he finds himself with a body on his bloody hands, until Mrs Lovett hits upon an innovative solution that soon sees her pie shop transformed into a roaring success. Meanwhile, as Todd plots his vengeance against Turpin, a young sailor (Jamie Campbell Bower) falls in love with Todd’s imprisoned daughter (Jayne Wisener) and vows to rescue her.

This sixth collaboration with director Tim Burton, Johnny Depp delivers an exceptional performance in the leading role that combines the gothic horror, black comedy and heartache similar to his previous hit in Edward Scissorhands.

As for his singing, Depp’s vocal performance was full of passion with a nod to David Bowie. He may not be a great singer, but his voice was both distinctive and perfectly suited to the part as the demon barber.

Helena Bonham Carter was terrific as Mrs Lovett providing some laughs thanks to her sharp wit. She can also sing well with the dreamy summer sequence the highlight.

As for the supporting cast, Alan Rickman brings a crafty charisma to Judge Turpin alongside the creepy Timothy Spall as Beadle Bamford. As for Sacha Baron Cohen – better known as Ali G and Borat – his short appearance was memorable thanks to his humour as Signor Adolfo Pirelli.

Despite the gory factor, Sweeney Todd is a beautifully directed, superbly designed and suitably bloodthirsty musical. Entertaining with a sense of dark comical moments make this a movie to remember.

Autosport International 2008

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Autosport Show 2008

A new year means another visit to the Birmingham’s NEC for the annual trip to the biggest motor racing show, the Autosport International.

The main highlight was the 50th anniversary of the British Touring Car Championship. Seeing the many ‘tin top’ racing cars up close was a real treat, especially the dominate Vauxhalls of the late 90s but I was slightly disappointed not to see the sinister black Ford Sierra that dominate the series in the mid 80s.

Another high point was the Colin McRae tribute stand, featuring an impressive collection of rally cars. Observing all these vehicles that the 1995 World Rally Champion drove throughout his career was highly emotional and it is still a shock that the popular Scot is no longer with us.

The Live Action Arena was extended with more racing action from the likes of Formula Palmer Audis, stockcars and new to the show, dragsters. These straight-line accelerating monsters sounded great in particular the 1953 Studebaker. I was amazed how much tire smoke it produces as the whole arena vibrated to its powerful engine (not to mention going deaf)!

As for the Formula One grid, it was fascinating to see the 2007 single-seater cars up close and personal. The chrome McLaren is simply gorgeous while the ‘earth’ theme Honda didn’t… This year’s Autosport International also included an extra feature, the Pistol Head performance car show and to be honest, I wasn’t a fan, Sure it was nice to see exotic supercars from the likes of Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche, but it felt like I stepped into Max Power world… And it didn’t help that the promo girls were wearing less (on second thoughts, that’s a good thing!).

At the end of an exhausting and long day, we left with a range of photographs stored on our digital cameras and fantastic memories of racing cars and stars.

Hamilton to strike back with new McLaren MP4-23

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McLaren MP4/23

This is the new Mercedes-powered race car that Lewis Hamilton hopes to win this year’s drivers’ title after narrowly missing out in the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix. The MP4-23 will mark ten years since the British team achieve the double (drivers and constructors) and will be desperate to bounce back after a difficult and controversial season in 2007.

The chrome-themed racing car will carry the unusually high numbers of 22 and 23, due to the team officially classified last in the standings – after being thrown out of the championship due to the latest series of spy scandals. Its a pure coincident that the 2008’s chassis is designated as the MP4-23 and that the unveiling in Stuttgart happens to be the same day as Lewis celebrates his 23rd birthday!

The designation ‘23′ holds further resonance for the squad. The McLaren M23 of the pre-Ron Dennis years appeared in 80 Grands Prix from 1974-78; a total of 177 individual car appearances. It won sixteen races, taking Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi to the drivers’ title in 1974 and Britain’s James Hunt in 1976. The M23 was the last title-winning car produced under the direction of Teddy Mayer before Ron Dennis took over the team in 1980.

Can the MP-23 enjoy the same success and make a champion out of Lewis Hamilton or new signing Heikki Kovalainen? Ron Dennis hopes so and he added that the team is focused to move on from that spying controversy that overshadowed last season.

“This is a year of forward thinking for us, we are looking forward,” Dennis said. “We are not spending any time dwelling on the past. We are intent with everyone in the company in producing a competitive racing car, a car that is constantly evolving and will look radically different by the time we get to the first Grand Prix.”

As for Lewis Hamilton, the championship runner-up says he will be a lot stronger in 2008 following a stunning debut season with McLaren last year.

“It gives me great pleasure to be here today on my birthday,” said Hamilton, turning 23 today. “After such a great season in 2007 I think the approach will be very, very similar to last year.

“We have a better car, a new team-mate and as a team are stronger and as a driver I have developed so much over one season that I will be a lot stronger next season than last year. So with the same mentality, approach and determination we can do well.”

Finn Heikki Kovalainen, who has joined McLaren after making his Grand Prix debut with Renault in 2007, will partner Hamilton. Kovalainen admits he has already been impressed with the team and is hopeful he will enjoy a strong season at McLaren.

“Of course for me it is a fantastic opportunity,” said the Finn. “It is a big step forward in my career to join McLaren. So far I have been impressed with what I have seen at the factory in Woking, meeting engineers, meeting people.

“Everyone is determined to return to the top and I will do the maximum I can before the first race, to start the season well in Melbourne and hopefully have some good results.”

Prepare for another battle royale between McLaren and Ferrari in 2008!

Raikkonen’s new Ferrari racer

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Ferrari F2008

It’s that time of the season and with the first Grand Prix at Melbourne coming up in two months time, the first 2008-spec Formula One racing car is launch and to set the ball rolling, this is the car in which the 2007 Formula One World Champion Kimi Raikkonen will defend his drivers’ title for this year’s championship season.

The new Ferrari F2008 looks similar to last season’s title-winning chassis but with a new standard ECU and some new aerodynamics. The car, codenamed internally as the 659, has been designed for the new sporting regulations in 2008, with no driving aids allowed.

Raikkonen hopes the F2008 – designed under the guidance of technical director Aldo Costa – will again bring title success for the Maranello-based squad. In fact, the Iceman is looking forward to driving without traction control though the potential for more crashes is the biggest issue for the world champions ahead of the first race in Melbourne on March 16th.

“Now traction control is not going to help you but for me it will be a lot more fun. I think there will be an easier chance to overtake as people will make more mistakes,” Raikkonen told a news conference.

“The sport is dangerous anyway. It doesn’t matter if you have traction control or not. If you think it is too dangerous you probably shouldn’t be in the sport. It is more tricky for sure, you need to be awake more of the time.”

The Finn’s team-mate Felipe Massa was less positive about the changes and said drivers had asked for safety assurances from the FIA, Formula One’s governing body.

“We had an email exchange but we haven’t tested the car yet. The GPDA (Grand Prix Drivers’ Association) has for sure been trying to increase safety levels. This is a very important change. It will have to be a smoother driving style,” said the Brazilian, who was still enamoured with the new Ferrari.

“My expectations are very high. When you first look at the car it is a special moment. It is like seeing a child being born. Now we have to let this child grow and grow as quickly as possible.”

Both drivers said it was too early to tell who their main challengers would be this year given the new rules and that Fernando Alonso has returned back to Renault. The Finn believes that Ferrari and rival McLaren will again be the main protagonists in 2008.

“Ferrari and McLaren will be there,” he added. “Renault had a difficult year last year but it might be a completely different story this year but nobody really knows after the first couple of tests and we get some kind of idea where everybody is. And then there’s BMW.

“It will be a difficult year. It’s my second year at Ferrari. I can feel that everything is going really well. I know the people I am working with and I really like the team.

“We need to always look at what others are doing but the main thing is that we keep pushing hard as a team and we keep improving we should be in good shape.”

Let’s see how good the world champions will be during the all-important testing as Formula One 2008 gears up for a new season of racing.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

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Guitar Hero III Slash

After playing both version of Guitar Hero II on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 to death, it’s nice to experience a new set list of rockin’ tracks with the latest instalment of the popular music rhythm game.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock has been developed by Neversoft after Activision decided to focus its attention on creating a brand new music game – the quite superb Rock Band (which is currently available in the States). Even though the game play to Guitar Hero III is identical to the previous titles, it some how feels different…

Yes, you still need to play through the different tracks by pressing the five colour fret buttons with the unique guitar controller but new to Guitar Hero III is the boss battle mode. To be honest, I really despise this new game play element as the balance between winning and losing is so random…

Okay its great to face-off legendary guitarists like Tom Morello (of Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave), Slash (of Guns N’ Roses/Slash’s Snakepit/Velvet Revolver) and Bret Michaels (of Poison) but you have to rely on sheer good fortune to take victory.

To defeat your opponent, you will need to pick up Battle Power (which replaces Star Power) to earn attacks. By using this special ability, you can strike against your fellow competitor just by tilting the guitar upwards. It may seem fun to keep on attacking but they can fight back – causing missed notes, increase in difficulty and even amp overload!

As for the visuals, the set designs and animation of the band members feels more realistic. In fact the lip sync on the singer matches the voices coming out of his mouth!

The track listing is now full of master recording from the likes of The Rolling Stones, The Smashing Pumpkins, Muse, Metallica and The Sex Pistols. It all sounds fantastic, a massive improvement over the cover versions that were featured in the previous Guitar Heroes.

And with the new wireless guitar – based on a real Gibson Les Paul model – playing the tracks is a more rewarding experience. What a shame that the boss battle seems misplace after all the fun playing encores… At least the new controller has a better responding whammy bar and is a lot more comfortable compare to X-plorer…

Race of Champions comes to Wembley

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Race of Champions 2007 Wembley

After hosting the traditional end-of-season motor sport event in Paris at the State de France for three years, the organisers of the Race of Champions (Michèle Mouton and Fredrik Johnson) decided to change venue for 2007.

It may have been years behind schedule and cost a huge amount of resources to construct, but the new Wembley Stadium in North London was a truly impressive sight when racing cars took central stage.

Back in 2004, when I went to Paris to attend my first Race of Champions I was amazed by the quality of racing from the best drivers from the world of Formula One, rallying, touring cars and single-seaters. The atmosphere – with the fans cheering on their favourite drivers as they tear around the figure-of-eight circuit with tyre smoke – was electric! And when the news came through regarding the event coming to London, I wanted my friends to come along and experience it themselves!

I invited some good friends from the TokyoToys forum who are interested in motor racing. Even though Ashlea, Chris and Michael couldn’t afford the tickets (and to be honest, it was expensive) I was more than happy to pair for them. In fact, it was my special Christmas treat to make them attend the event!

On the day, I meet up with Yas at Baker Street tube station to have a spot of lunch with other TT members. We had a nice Italian meal in a nearby restaurant and it was quite amusing to see the waitress cutting some slices into Amy’s pizza, as she was having trouble with her blunt knife!

After eating, we made our way to Wembley by taking a direct (and very fast) route on the Metropolitan line. After stepping out of the tube station, the first sight you see is the impressive spanning archway over Wembley Stadium.

Chris was running late at this point so we agree to meet him at the entrance point. He finally arrived some time later and we our way in and towards our stand. Initially, I was worried that the seating arrangement at the far end of the stadium wouldn’t offer any good views but when we got to our seats, we had a spectacular vantage point overlooking the figure-of-eight race track!

The event was highly entertaining despite the harsh winter winds! We were absolutely freezing our arses off but the track activities kept our spirits warm.

Double DTM champion Mattias Ekstrom won the main Race of Champions after beating the seven-times Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher in a series of tense heats. But Michael had the last laugh as Team Germany won the Nations Cup with fellow colleague Sebastian Vettel.

The most amusing moment in the Race of Champions was when Schumacher stalled on the start and finish line! Michael was even overtaken on the track by new McLaren signing Heikki Kovalainen. This was the high point for the Finn as he would later crashed out in spectacular fashion in a dramatic race with Andy Priaulx.

After the fun day out, we all made our own way home and once back, I was happy to see the many photographs and videos posted on Facebook by the others! Reading the various comments on that popular socialising website, everyone was ecstatic about the event and Yas in particular was looking forward to attending the event next year. For Michael, he was fond to see his idol Schumacher racing while Ashlea and Chris enjoyed the whole experience. Same time next year everyone?

Kovalainen joins McLaren

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Kovalainen Renault

Finland’s Heikki Kovalainen has joined the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team as Lewis Hamilton new team-mate for the 2008 world championship.

The young Formula One rookie impressed the Woking-based outfit despite a shaky start at Renault. Heikki initially struggle to drive the R27 due to a lack of a decent balance – which in effect dented his confidence in driving.

His performances improved over the course of the season with his best-ever finish in the wet dramatic race at the Fuji Speedway, finishing behind race winner Hamilton.

By joining McLaren, Heikki has a wonderful opportunity to showcase his talent with a race-winning car. In addition, it will be fascinating to see if Lewis can handle another fast team-mate.

Pedro de la Rose remains as the third driver, with Gary Paffett staying on board as tester.