GIVEAWAYROADSHOW Entertainment and the Newcastle Herald are giving away five copies of Apollo 18. The movie is a sci-fi thriller with the storyline spookily declaring that "decades-old found footage from NASA's abandoned Apollo 18 mission, where two American astronauts were sent on a secret expedition, reveals the reason the US has never returned to the moon". To enter, send the keyword APOLLO, along with your name, address and daytime contact number, via SMS to 0427 842 179, or email livefreebies@theherald.com.au, or fill out the coupon in today's paper.
WINNERS
LAST week’s Pablo Francisco Twin Pack DVDs were won by Danielle Topp, of Karuah; Paull McLaughlin, of Wakefield; Debbie Dye, of Cooranbong; Shayne Johnson, of Toronto; and P.Neesom, of Toronto.
REVIEWS
SPY KIDS: ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD
Starz/Anchor Bay, PG, 88 minutes
ROBERT Rodriguez has a lively, vulgar imagination and a fair idea of what young children tend to enjoy: bloodless violence, groanworthy puns, and flights of fancy that manage to be heartwarming and tasteless at the same time.
The first Spy Kids movie in eight years introduces us to Jessica Alba as a heavily pregnant spy mum battling henchmen between contractions.
Later we meet a robot dog who eats scrap metal, poos out ball bearings and speaks in the thin whine of Ricky Gervais.
Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara from the original Spy Kids trilogy are all grown up by now, but the actors return as mentors to a new brother-sister team consisting of Cecil (Mason Cook), who proves to be a whiz at decoding anagrams, and Rebecca (Rowan Blanchard), who’s obsessed with practical jokes.
Their nemesis is the mysterious Timekeeper (Jeremy Piven), whose evil plan involves making all the clocks in the world run at high speed, bringing us ever closer to Armageddon.
Rating: **
– Jake Wilson
ABDUCTION
Roadsh ow, M, 106 minutes
TAYLOR Lautner and female sidekick Lily Collins do a great job of holding your attention in this action thriller about a teenager who discovers his true identity about the time the bad guys find out where he is living.
Plenty of explosions and chase scenes, but enough dialogue to give the plot some substance.
Rating: ***
– Jim Kellar
THE THING
Universal, MA, 103 minutes
THERE simply aren’t enough flame-throwers used in movies these days. Which is about the only thing The Thing gets right.
Oh, and the sound effects.
The squelching noises in this science-fiction monster mash are particularly juicy – the squishy rips, snaps and pops adding big dollops of ick to the horror of some rather grotesque visuals.
So, if that’s your kind of thing, try The Thing.
Otherwise, stand well clear.
The film is a remake of John Carpenter’s cult 1982 creature feature starring Kurt Russell. Actually, the remake is being called a prequel because it is set in the days leading up to the opening scene of the original.
And yet first-time director Matthijs van Heijningen sticks religiously to the same format of paranoia, frights and splatter as the Carpenter film.
The new Thing opens with Norwegian scientists in Antarctica discovering a flying saucer deep under the ice.
When they unwisely thaw out a frozen extra-terrestrial back at their research base, all hell breaks loose as the ravenous beastie goes on the rampage.
Luckily, everyone seems to have a flame-thrower to hand, including the two requisite Americans at the base, feisty paleontologist Kate (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and gruff pilot Carter (Aussie Joel Edgerton with a Yank drawl).
The shape-shifting creature effects are suitably gruesome.
The trick with this clawed and tentacled alien is that it spreads like a virus, is absorbed into the blood stream and flesh of its victim, silently replicating inside them until it bursts violently out of the host body to attack again.
And yet the suspense and scares in The Thing are only middling, despite extended scenes depicting the escalating paranoia of the scientists.
Mostly The Thing is about gross, flesh-ripping monster effects and an angry chick brandishing a flame-thrower – which is kind of hot even if the film is not.
Rating: **
– James Joyce
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