Dakota Fanning?

She even goes lesbo with Kristen Stewart in new film "The Runaways". Did I miss a point where she went from a little girl to a woman? Or puberty as it's known.

The Shield Season 4

The fact that I'm running through the entire lot of The Shield is proof enough that this series has a lot to offer, but by this season the characters are well worn-in, so what can be done to mix it up a bit?

Well firstly, your best bet is to get some kudos by drafting in some established acting talent such as Glenn Close. Her new captain is astoundingly well formed and you can tell Close has a point to prove. She brings a lot of weight and depth to the entire series and proves that American TV is overtaking Hollywood in risks and overall quality. The Shield would only work on TV and though there are many good films dealing with the same subject, by getting to season 4 this set shows that characters need time to fully develop in front of your eyes, and it's quite a sight to see.

Vic almost takes a bit of a back seat in this series to let some others breathe a bit more. After his problems with promotion, there are signs that he's close to packing it all in - that he's ready to self-destruct, but when bigger problems come into play, then he gets his priorities straight. Close's Captain is fantastic and a great counterpart to Vic, she understands him but doesn't necessarily agree with him, which is probably the best way to deal with him. She also knows you have to break some eggs to make an omelet and usually those eggs are someones balls. Hey yo!

But this really doesn't live up to the last series. The main issue being is that the main bad guy is 'that funny black man' from the Scary Movie films but you might know him as Anthony Anderson. His character becomes anything but intimidating. How the hell does anyone take orders from this guy? He ruins it all and make the whole thing seem like we just needed a friendly black face rather than someone who would believably be a bad-ass cop killer. You're just waiting for him to crack a joke any second and it feels like he's trying to prove his acting chops. Which isn't right for The Shield. There must have been better talent out there. He's not exactly Stringer Bell.

Shane also comes into his own again. His character gets better and better and when watching the behind-the-scenes footage, you can see why. This guy takes his character seriously. Dutch also earns himself some respect from the department, even when taking the risky move of going out with Vic's ex. But the overall narrative is Close's character seizing assets belonging to criminals to auction them, and then hand the money back into the police and the community. But this causes more problems than you think. Aceveda is also going off the rails a bit and his power trip goes through the roof. So there's enough parallel storylines to keep the short-term viewer interested as well as revealing new secrets about characters we thought we knew well.

Overall, this doesn't shock as much as the last series but Glenn Close takes centre stage and chews up everything around her. However, Anderson's Antwon character just buggers it all up really. Not exactly a let down, but could have been better.

Rating: 7/10

Ninja Assassin

A martial arts film that tries to appeal to Western audiences like Ong-Bak did, this offering from director James McTeigue - known for being an AD on a lot of Wachowski movies - instead becomes a gore-fest you can simply live without.

The film centres on a young ninja called Raizo (played by the sensation that is Rain, named one of Time's Most Influential People In The World and one of the biggest global Eastern pop stars) who has come from a training camp where young children are taught ninja skills through what seems like a horrible amount of pain. It's kill or be killed and no-one can leave.

In a series of flashbacks, we see he falls for one of his female students and there is a bitter rivalry between him and his brother. Their father of which, leads this ninja clan. These ninja's have been around for ages and are the best in the business. But Raizo isn't all he seems...

The plot is really thread-bare thin, but it's just enough to keep it going. It does conjure up a few questions though. Why is it that Raizo's first kill of some really fat guy becomes a messy affair after so much training? Why does it suddenly go supernatural near the end? Who cares because really, it doesn't matter. If you've picked up this film, it's to watch some brains-not-included action. Which it delivers. Kind of...

Let's put it this way. It's no Ong-Bak, and not just because of the CG. The fighting scenes are good and Rain, who began his career in dancing, looks incredibly ripped, but there's a lack of real technique, instead there is a LOT of blood - and I mean a lot. But it's not the kind of blood you're used to, instead for those who watch Beat Takeshi's amazing Zaitoichi, it's more like that. Completely CG, almost too-fluid blood of a bright red colour. Like it's kids paint. But in some weird way it does work, and some of the many ways people die are fun and creative but for me, it played almost like a God Of War game - your circular knife on a chain thing just seems to kill everyone. Raizo also seems to be able to take on loads of these ninjas, but you don't know why he's that hardcore - he does well in his flashback training scenes but you wonder how tough these guys are if one of them can take out the lot.

Also the use of an English man, an American woman, a Japanese clan, Korean actors all speaking English in a Berlin setting makes this seem a bit too try-hard to appeal to everyone, and instead appeals to no-one. It feels a bit awkward at times but, as much as I might knock it, I didn't really get bored at any point - if this was a better director with some better actual fighting scenes then it could have been better, but as it was, it scrapes out of being completely awful.

Rating: 4/10

Crazy Heart

The Oscar winning film that ticks all the boxes. Is it the masterpiece some make it out to be? Or is it just a melting pot of what the Academy enjoy?

Jeff Bridges is a fantastic actor. No-one can deny that and his Oscar for this is well deserved but I can't help but say that it's just a bit boring.

The story follows "Bad" as he is at the bottom of his career, trying to get back on track but instead he is falling into an abyss of alcohol and self loathing. His health is starting to fail and he's watching the young bucks take over. All the while, he's falling for younger single mother Maggie Gyllenhaal and starts to change his life around. Sound familiar? There are resonances of The Wrestler here, but also Walk The Line and the rest of these biopics. Except this one isn't real, and that's a major flaw.

The reason why biopics work so well is because fact is stranger than fiction, and more interesting. I couldn't tell you what really happens in this whole film (except that I did it in the last paragraph) but I guess the narrative plays like his character, stumbling from one scene to the next. The only thing driving this forward is the acting. Geeky Gyllenhaal, whom I can't stand, does her bit and Colin Farrell makes a great little cameo but really, there's just no real jeopardy.

Bridges' moment of clarity comes when he has an incident in a shopping mall. Oh my God! Time to get sober. This isn't exactly that rock'n'roll. The country songs are okayish, but much like the genre, it's too same-y and the lyrics almost verge on cringeworthy - "Falling feels like flying for a little while" - wow.

This character has everything that fills a country singer stereotype. He drinks, womanises, has a son somewhere, married lots of times, a 'troubled genius', smokes and sings sad songs. There's nothing here that will blow your mind. The redemption is rather quick and ill prepared, and his jealousy of Tommy Sweet seems petty. Did he learn anything? Sure. But he didn't seem that far gone in the first place really. Just needed a kick up the arse it seems.

Overall, it's worth seeing as a nice, sweet film about a sad, old singer. But really, you'll forget about it in a couple of days and think of it purely as 'that film Jeff Bridges won that Oscar for'. Enjoy it, but it's Oscar fodder a plenty and there's much better stuff you could be spending your money on.

Rating: 7/10

Oscar Winners - The Wild Bore's Amazing Results!

The Wild Bore was spot on with the Oscar predictions last month. So to celebrate, I'm going to go through each one and say which ones I got right. It's going to be The Wild Brag today. It also proves it wasn't such a 'Shock' Oscar night as everyone is saying. The Wild Bore got you in there first. Have a look to see who won and all that.

Actor In A Leading Role

Jeff Bridges

Correct!

Actor In A Supporting Role

Christoph Waltz

Correct!

I was also correct that this would probably be the only thing Inglorious Basterds won all night.

Actress In A Leading Role

Sandra Bullock

Correct!

Actress In A Supporting Role

Mo'Nique

Correct!

Well, all the acting ones were spot on. But that's not all of it.

Animated Feature Film

Fantastic Mr Fox

Wrong

Typically, Pixar's Up won. I thought they might do an outside choice here as Wes Anderson is an actual film-maker, but oh well!

Art Direction

Avatar

Correct!

Cinematography

The White Ribbon

Wrong

Avatar won this category, and probably rightly so seeing as I'd think the Academy had to keep Cameron happy enough as Hurt Locker won all the big awards.

Costume Design

The Young Victoria

Correct

Directing

The Hurt Locker

Correct

Documentary Feature

Food Inc

Wrong

The Cove won this category, I hadn't seen any of them so ... yeah.

Documentary Short

China's Unnatural Disaster

Wrong

Music By Prudence won, it had something about a girl in a wheelchair I think? Should have known.

Film Editing

District 9

Wrong

The Hurt Locker picked up another one. I'm surprised it did so well as apparently one of the producers was campaigning a bit too hard for the film and against Avatar. Made quite a few people unhappy ...

Foreign Language Film

Un Prophete

Wrong

Instead El Secrete De Sus Ojos got the award. Fairly won? Someone tell me because I haven't seen it.

Make-Up

Star Trek

Correct

Music (Original Score)

Up

Correct

Music (Original Song)

The Weary Kind

Correct

Best Picture

The Hurt Locker

Correct

Short Film (Animated)

A Matter of Loaf and Death

Wrong

Logorama got the honours for this. Anyone seen it?

Short Film (Live Action)

The Door

Wrong

The New Tenants got it. Fine.

Sound Editing

Up

Wrong

Instead the clean-up Hurt Locker swept up another one.

Sound Mixing

The Hurt Locker

Correct

Visual Effects

Avatar

Correct

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

Precious

Correct

Writing (Original Screenplay)

A Serious Man

Wrong

The Hurt Locker picked up this one!

Well, as I predicted, Hurt Locker would do well, but I didn't think it would do that well. I got all the big ones right so all feel free to bow down. I didn't watch the actual ceremony but I'm sure I'll hear a lot about it as the days carry on, but if you did feel free to comment beneath, I'd be interested in what people have to say. Did Hurt Locker deserve all the praise?

The Shield Season 3

Mack's Back. With a slightly lacklustre second season, can The Shield get back on track third time round? Of course it bloody well can!

The second season ended with the big heist and right now, the Strike Team are just trying to lay low. But with Armenians trying to get to them, and a rival Decoy Squad being employed (haven't I seen that old guy before?), it's all getting a bit messy and once again - Vic's having some home troubles.

I think this season has been my favourite so far. The stories are a lot more daring and punchier and the characters have really come into their own. Vic is starting to realise that toeing the line and being so morally ambiguous has it's drawbacks. Big time. The money heist is causing nothing but problems and starting to get in the way of the team. Not only this, but his wife who acts like she's hard up but is a right bloody moany, selfish cow is doing his nut and it seems all his kids are having problems. When you've got a city to keep clean, you don't really want any of this.

Once again the action is top notch. Stake-outs, busts, violence and cops twisting the law makes for great TV but there was some certain scenes that really made an impression on me. One of which was in the fourth episode that features a certain (kind of) rape scene and really took me by surprise - I don't think I had seen anything like that on TV before and it was completely out there but it really brought home the fact that as much as The Wire was for the 'thinking man' - The Shield knows shock value and to be honest, I'm enjoying the constant chaos of The Shield over The Wire. Sure it's not as sophisticated, but I really like Die Hard and sometimes I'd rather watch that than LA Confidential - so sue me.

Once again there's a great broader picture at play. Dutch goes a bit, well, weird, while trying to solve a gerophile rape case (is that the right word?), Claudette risks it all for her black and white moral outlook and Shane tries to settle down. As much as I love everyone in this series, Shane has really grown on me far more than I think he'd have done. What started out as a no-brain hick, has turned into a sophisticated, layered, funny and well-dressed individual. The fight scene (you'll know what I'm talking about) is done with such ferocity, it made me wonder if these guys did actually hate each other!

Overall, it's a great season and has gone leaps and bounds by taking risk after risk, and coming out better for it. I'm hoping it won't stop letting up because there is not one episode that I found myself thinking 'I'm bored' - even the slow bits were interesting. I would say something if I thought this was shit, but it really is good. I recommend it and can only hope it gets better which is why it isn't a 10 yet. The final scene ends with Vic crying, the first time we see him get so upset and it's the first time that you wonder how this guy can put up with so much. But I really want some more to hit him so he goes completely crazy. They're leading up to something spectacular, I can feel it....

Rating: 8/10

REC 2

A sequel that has a lot to live up to and though it might just about prevail, it doesn't quite hit the heights of the first one. Essentially, you've seen it before.

I was one of the few excited ones to hear about REC when it was released. An original Spanish horror film that builds on the path started by Blair Witch Project of shaky-cam horror madness. The trailer was AMAZING. Though you might think Cloverfield got there first, REC was actually released a good year beforehand and instead of the grand scale of something like New York, it instead takes place, for the most part, in an apartment building.

If you watched the first one, you would know it dealt with issues such as terrorism, racism, government policy, freedom of speech, paranoia, religion, child abuse and relationships in a way that you aren't really prepared for. It was absolutely terrifying in parts and the end sequence was incredible. This was remade, almost shot for shot at times in Quarantine, which got a mediocre response. It was for the idiots who couldn't be bothered to read. So anyway, now I've laid down the initial basis, what of the sequel?

Well at least it's made by the same guys, which always fares well at least, and it picks up pretty much where the first one left off. But instead of a TV crew you're now dealing with a small SWAT team who storm the building with headcams, which (a bit like the Japanese "Siren" game series) you can see what is happening to the other members in the building as they get split up. Lo and behold it all goes kind of wrong as we say hello to some familiar faces (albeit slightly more gruesome) and meet some new ones. As we get some more background on what this 'infection' is all about, we start detangling what is actually happening here. But to be honest, I liked it better when I didn't know. Some things really are best left to the imagination - especially bits like what happened to the main girl from the first one when she got dragged off in the final shot. I didn't want to know that, it was much better in my head!

But then, this wasn't really the problem. The problem is it stalls halfway through as the narrative completely changes direction and you see it from the perspective of three kids from the beginning again, a parallel timeline if you will. These kids are completely annoying and just add more fodder to the horror cannon - you don't care enough about them and luckily you don't have to deal with them for too long. I guess it's kind of good, but it just feels a bit messy, and forced. Whereas the first one felt so natural and flowing, this one feels like they are just trying to recreate everything that made the original so great instead of approaching it from a different angle. Also, as a side note, if you remember the first one when the lady is saying her husband has gone to get their daughter drugs. Let's just say he doesn't get much of a welcome.

The story continues and a few twists happen. Nothing that will blow your mind. But you do get to see that horrible monster girl from the end of the first one proper up close and personal - which is nice. But essentially it feels a bit lame in that it just doesn't have that excitement. But I'm putting it down a lot more than I should - I would definitely go watch it and if you haven't seen the first one, you'll probably be OK not knowing what happened. You'll pick it up quickly enough. It is a lot better than most of the shit horror still banging about these days and I did enjoy it from beginning to finish - the sheer panic, desperation and isolation you feel comes right through and slaps you on the face. Not as good as the first, but pretty damn good.

Rating: 7/10