Today sees the release of supernatural vampire comedy “Dark Shadows,” director Tim Burton’s big-screen adaptation of the gothic soap opera of the same name that aired from 1966-1971. To mark its release, I thought I’d take a look at the ten finest on-screen performances of its leading man: Johnny Depp, the 48-year-old acting chameleon and global megastar whose 28-year career has seen him playing oddball outsiders, murderous madmen and actual chameleons in drug-addled dramas, quirky comedies, gothic horrors and computer-animated family flicks. Let’s begin.
In case you didn’t know (and how could you not?), superhero epic “Marvel’s The Avengers” sees its long-awaited theatrical release in American theatres this coming Friday, even though its UK release was last Thursday, when I went and saw it (if you will allow me to gloat and grin and dance merrily down the street for a moment or two). To celebrate, I thought I’d take a look at the ten finest examples to come out of the cinematic superhero genre, which I have listed below along with justifications for each entry. Some of the films are based on comics, some of them are original; some of them are straight-faced, some of them are comedies; some of them are bloody, one of them was made by Pixar. And hey, one of them might even have a certain Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Hulk in them (nudge, nudge).
There’s been an earth-shattering debate (read: crybaby whining) going on at the IMDb board for Ridley Scott’s upcoming sci-fi horror feature “Prometheus.” Apparently, the film is under threat of being slapped with a PG-13 rating, which, as many horrified posters have anxiously pointed out, is “OMG, the same rating as Twilight, so gay.” This, in spite of the fact that the film serves as something of a prequel to the “Alien” franchise, each entry of which has been granted with a much harsher R rating, mostly for gore, bloody violence and frequent scenes of chest-bursting.
As of this moment, the MPAA (that’s the Motion Picture Association of America) is yet to officially announce the film’s American rating, but many are dead certain that film studio 20th Century Fox are gunning for a PG-13 rating purely for financial gain. Those complaining claim that the level of raw, pants-crapping intensity captured in the previous “Alien” films simply cannot be recreated in a supposedly watered-down, hacked-to-bits PG-13 cut. As sort of a counter-argument, I thought I’d take a look at the ten best examples to come out of the horror genre brandished with either a PG-13 rating or an even lighter PG rating, along with how spooky they managed to be, even though their rating clearly meant “Twilight” levels of gayness, and what they would be like had they been granted an R rating.
Last Thursday, the 100th episode of American sitcom ‘The Big Bang Theory’ aired for the first time in the United Kingdom (yes, I know it aired in the States back in January, but hey, us Brits are slow). To coincide with this momentous event, I thought I’d take a look back at the top ten moments from the geek-friendly, underdog-championing comedy show that has made us all laugh, cry, cry with laughter and scratch our heads in googly-eyed bemusement; some of the show’s more scientific elements can be rather mind-boggling.
Some see the Academy Awards as a way to gauge whether a film is good or not. This is a foolish move and here are the top ten reasons why. Yes, ladies and gentlemen of the TBR jury, here are the top ten Oscar Snubs of all time:
