Dwardus Prime Entertainment Blog

Pandorum (2009)

Dwardus — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:45:54 +0000

Firmly in the footsteps of space-horrors Event Horizon and Sunshine, Pandorum follows the story of a man called Bower having woken from a long statis aboard the massive space hulk “Elysium”. The character Bower is played by Ben Foster of X-Men: The Last Stand fame, but whose acting skills were put to much better use as the horribly efficient Charlie Prince in the 3:10 to Yuma remake starring Christian Bale and Russell Crowe. In this he plays an adequate lead in a role where only fragments of Bower’s past are evident to him at the outset. This is an effect of “Pandorum” – a psychological condition caused by extended stasis and space travel, the symptoms of which include paranoia, madness, violence and extreme hallucinations.

Bower soon finds another man called Payton (Dennis Quaid), who has also just awoken from deed sleep and finds himself equally disorientated. Bower looks to reboot the ship’s vital systems and reach other areas as Payton guides him from the relative safety of ship’s control room, but Bower soon loses contact when he comes across some horribly mutated on-board hostiles.

The mutants are a sort of cross between the Reavers in Firefly/Serenity and the creatures from The Descent. Not just for their look but for the crude weapons that they weild. As they close in on Bower he finds himself a stun-gun, the meatiest weapon we see in the entire movie (which is actually kind of cool, and boosts the ’survival’/grab-whatever-one-can element).

As time goes on we discover (along with the characters, who are only just remembering), that the space ship Elysium is a ’sleeper’ ship on a one-way ride to a planet named Tanis. Tanis is a world much like our own which will sustain life following Earth’s massive overpopulation. To go on explaining would be to ruin the story.

Watch the Pandorum trailer:

I think the movie would have benefited from more believable and varied characters, for example the idealised girl Nadia who saves Bower early on and has learnt martial arts in five months, no mean feat provided we are to believe that before she was just a worker in the ship’s bio lab. It isn’t difficult to recognise the people involved with the Resident Evil flicks helped make this, the whole Nadia and the random Asian martial arts god (don’t ask) who turn up reek of Resi’s Alice and numerous other slightly one-dimensional heroines from the last ten or so years of cinema.

According to the FAQ on IMDB, Pandorum is the first part of a planned trilogy, and though critics attacked it pretty badly the general public seem to have enjoyed it quite a bit more. I think it is in danger of becoming another so-so Resident Evil/Chronicles of Riddick-esque franchise. Pandorum isn’t a great movie, but provides us with a decent and entertaining space-horror. For all its faults there are some decent plot ideas and If executed with a steady hand, there could yet be room for an interesting sequel.

If you like the sound of Pandorum, you may also like the movies:
Event Horizon (1997)
Sunshine (2007)
Serenity (2005)
Firefly (2002)
Pitch Black (2000)
The Descent (2005)

Or if you’re into computer games:
Dead Space (2008)

The Making of Journal For Plague Lovers

Dwardus — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:29:42 +0000

I just thought I’d post these links to the “Making of” The Manic Street Preachers album Journal For Plague Lovers as I gave a speedy (rambling, sort-of) track-by-track review last year, find it here. Of course I’m a big fan of the band, so if you are too, check out the four-part docu here:

The Making of Journal For Plague Lovers: Part 1
The Making of Journal For Plague Lovers: Part 2
The Making of Journal For Plague Lovers: Part 3
The Making of Journal For Plague Lovers: Part 4

The TV Show goes to… Oxford

Dwardus — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:58:48 +0000

I got sent this earlier today – The TV Show goes to… Oxford. Basically it’s what a bunch of people from Oxford think of some channel 4 shows. They talk about Glee, The Bible: A History, Tower Block of Commons, Come Dine with Me, Friends, My Dream Farm and Big Brother.

Oscars 2010

Dwardus — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:31:35 +0000

Decidedly less coverage here this year but I’ve been a bit out-of-the-loop on the Oscar nominations (haven’t been to the cinema in a while!) so instead I’ll direct you here to the BBC page. As you’ve probably heard, Best Picture went to The Hurt Locker and Kathryn Bigelow won Best Director – the first woman even to win.

The Hurt Locker Trailer:

Stardust (2007)

Dwardus — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 11:34:10 +0000

OK so it doesn’t look like we’ll be seeing much of the Oscars here in England but Stardust is on tonight, another movie I’ve been wanting to see for a while. It looks sort of like The Princess Bride (if it turns out to be nothing like it, forgive my ignorance!). At the very least I’m sure it’ll be worth it for De Niro and Gervais, not to mention pretty ladies!

Here’s the action-packed trailer:

Gorillaz – Plastic Beach

Dwardus — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 11:11:49 +0000

No luck on Spotify, but for anyone interested in hearing the new Gorillaz album “Plastic Beach” for free, here’s a link to the page on the Guardian’s site. I’ve only listened to a few tracks myself so I’m not yet in a position to judge. Orchestrial intro is nice, though!

Seraphim Falls (2006)

Dwardus — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 13:33:49 +0000

Unfortunately I missed Seraphim Falls when it aired on the BBC recently. It’s a film I’ve wanted to see since I spotted the posters at a train station a few years back. I like Westerns and Neeson and Brosnan in the lead roles seemed pretty cool. Despite lukewarm reviews, I caught it on BBC iPlayer yesterday and really enjoyed it. Check out the trailer:

New Look Dwardus Prime!

Dwardus — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:05:49 +0000

I’ve finally got round to revamping the site, so welcome to the new look Dwardus Prime Entertainment Blog!

Being Human

Dwardus — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:03:36 +0000

So it’s already the end of another great series of Being Human and it certainly went out with a bang. The biggest suprise came in the last few seconds but I’ll omit the details for those who haven’t seen it just yet. Now that we’ve got another years wait until series 3 comes around (being written now, apparently) now’s a good time to check out the BBC site Being Human, the videos and blogs.

Being Human Episode 3

Dwardus — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 15:31:25 +0000

I’m dead (pun intended) pleased that Being Human is back on our screens. In my opinion it’s the best thing on TV, with great characters and a brilliant script. Here are two new clips to from the upcoming third episode to get your teeth into! For previous episodes check out BBC iPlayer.

Being Human stars Lenora Crichlow, Russell Tovey and Aidan Turner as three apparent twenty-something characters sharing a house in Bristol, trying to live a normal social life, despite being a ghost, a werewolf and a vampire respectively.

‘Matchmaking Hugh’

‘Vampire Rehab’

Catch Being Human on Sundays 9pm, BBC3