Movie and Television Lenses

I have always loved stories with a twist in the tail, but movies have a unique advantage over books, in that the audience cannot enjoy the intimate perspective of any character (unless voiceover is used to provide the character's thoughts). This mean...

The Prestige opens with one Victorian-era magician being tried for the murder of another magician, and then works its way through the story of their rivalry via their diaries. The twists in The Prestige are "soft" twists, but this enhances t...

M Night Shyamalan (Manoj Nelliattu Shyamalan) was born in India in 1970 and spent just the first few weeks of his life there, before returning with his mother to America. He grew up in Pennsylvania, and many of his films are set in Philadelphia....

Premonition is a weakly plotted movie that relies heavily on gimmicks and distractions to confuse the audience. If it weren't such a depressing movie, I would be tempted to call it "silly". Despite that, you may have arrived at this lens looking for...

James McAvoy is believed to be the favourite to play the role of Bilbo Baggins in the movie of The Hobbit, due out in two movie instalments in 2011 and 2012. Sir Ian McKellen will reprise his role as Gandalf and Andy Serkis his role as Gollum. Film...

The trailer for Terry Gilliam's latest movie, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, is out now and it looks fabulous. The blending of scenes by Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law to complete the scenes begun by Heath Ledger looks to be a stroke...

T4 Salvation kicks off in the US on the 21st May 2009, 4th June 2009 in Australia, and 5th June 2009 in the UK. Christian Bale has been signed to star as John Connor in three new Terminator movies, the first of which is Terminator Salvation. Initial...

Meggie's father has an unusual talent - the characters from the books he reads aloud come to life in our world. Unfortunately, he's just read a villain into existence... Inkheart is the first book in Cornelia Funke's Inkworld Trilogy featuring the a...

For the Pevensie children, it has been a year since they returned from their amazing adventure in Narnia. But for the beings of Narnia, it has been centuries since the golden age of the reign of King Peter, King Edmund, Queen Susan, and Queen Lucy....

During the war, the four Pevensie children, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, are sent to stay with Professor Kirke in his mansion in the country. What the children don't know, however, is that Professor Kirke once had a great adventure in a land call...

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader will be filmed in Queensland, Australia. This is the latest announcement and is great news for fans after the question mark hanging over this movie after Disney pulled out of distributing the movie due to financial misg...

The Grace family move to Spiderwick Estate in New England, and the trouble begins when Jared Grace finds an old book - Arthur Spiderwick's Illustrated Fieldguide to the Fantastical World Around You. Jared, his twin brother Simon, and their sister Mal...

A long time coming on the heels of Monsters, Inc is a new monster animation filled with puns and innuendo. Monsters vs Aliens is based on the comic book Rex Havoc. Earth is under attack by aliens, and what better way to solve the recently uncovered...

Johnny Depp based his character of Captain Jack Sparrow on the mannerisms and look of Rolling Stones rocker Keith Richards. Now, in the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie, Keith Richards makes a cameo appearance as Jack's good old dad. And have a l...

Davy Jones' Locker is about to claim Jack, but Jack has an advantage that is sure to defeat Davy Jones. Will accepts a difficult bargain to save Elizabeth's life: track down Jack Sparrow and steal his compass. But Jack has a bargain of his own and ro...

Was there ever a time when Captain Jack Sparrow wasn't a household name? When Johnny Depp wasn't famous for impersonating Keith Richards in an action-adventure period piece that was side-splittingly funny? Enjoy the Sparrow-Swann-Turner-Barbossa antic...

They're lean and mean, and they like to fight. They've made names for themselves based on the amount of sweat (real or spritzed on) they produce in the course of a movie, and the quality of the grimaces they can garner while firing two guns or kickbo...

The differences between the V for Vendetta graphic novel and the movie are a good way to understand how a story can be reworked and rewritten in later drafts to produce different results. It's worth remembering that almost every scenario, action, be...

Edward Norton takes over from Eric Bana as the title character in The Incredible Hulk - the sequel to the 2003 movie Hulk. With the versatile Norton leading a stellar cast, The Incredible Hulk will be a must-see movie. Movie stills and publicity ima...

As a baby demon, summoned by desperate Nazi officers, Hellboy was rescued by Allied troops and grew up in the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, under the care of Professor Broom. Now someone has awoken an invinceable army, and it is down t...

Don't waste your time or money on Death at a Funeral. Even the actors seem bored, despite the evidence of the outtakes where none of them can get a line out without cracking up - but even the outtakes aren't funny. I think the actors had to take the...

Although I have always enjoyed the tongue-in-cheek Shrek movies, I have a serious problem with the misogynistic message being passed on to children in this third movie. Fiona's father, the Frog King, dies after telling Shrek that he is next in line...

The disappointment was inevitable, but, like desperate junkies, we found ourselves watching the first episode of TopGear Australia anyway. Or, at least, we made it through to an ad break and said "There must be something better on." What were SBS th...

One of the common ethical themes of Torchwood is the question of alien "rights" versus human rights. In one episode Captain Jack Harkness uses a captured alien as bait, something that Gwen Cooper considers deplorable. In another episode Ja...

It happened in the very first episode. Proof that Torchwood would not be one of those shows that wraps up neatly at the end of each episode. Proof that characters weren't safe just because they were billed in the opening credits. Anyone goes. Anytime...

Rumours of Torchwood Season 4 coming up... stay tuned. Aussies - Torchwood Season 2 is being screened on ABC2 on Friday nights... yay! Torchwood Torchwood is an anagram of Doctor Who, and like an anagram is a remix of some of the ideas from its sis...

Good news Whedon fans! Dollhouse has been renewed for a second season! Joss Whedon's new project is a saucy mix of Buffy, Alias, XXX, and The Bourne Identity. The new Sci-Fi show is based on the premise of a team of people with special skills, who...

Paddington Bear has been a much-loved children's favourite since 1958. The stories were created by Michael Bond, a cameraman with the BBC, and were inspired by a last-minute Christmas present he bought for his wife. He walked into a shop and saw a fo...