Great Riddlers: Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman is a well-known English writer who has a very diverse portfolio. He has written successful novels, comic books, graphic novels, short stories and poems. Aside from art in the written form, he has also been involved in film. He co-wrote the screenplay for the movie MirrorMask. His works have earned him a large variety of awards and he has even set the record for being the first person to earn the Newbery and Carnegie awards for a single novel. He earned these awards for his 2008 novel The Graveyard Book. His childhood and his education were fairly normal but he was already reading fairly well by the age of four. He loved reading and had read vast amounts of novels by the time he was a young teenager, developing his style and interests. Later he became a fan of science fiction, which sparked his own novels in the genre. One lesser studied aspect of Neil Gaiman is his riddles. Riddles play a notable part in his works.

Skyfall Movie Review

Daniel Craig returns as James Bond in this movie that is also celebrating 50 years since the Bond franchise began. After a lengthy delay, and the 50 year celebrations, there was plenty of hype behind this, but did it live up to the expectations I had?

The movie starts off with a solid start. We begin with Bond hunting down an assassin who has just taken out a bunch of agents and taken a hard drive that holds valuable information. After an excellent chase scene Bond ends up being shot and falling off train that is travelling over a bridge and we last see Bonds body going down a waterfall. He is missing presumed dead, but come on, its Bond, it wouldn't be much of a film if he was.

Bond has been living under the radar for six months, since his apparent death. An attack on MI6 forces Bond to come back from obscurity to the aid of the British secret service. However, Bond looks more weather-beaten, older and damaged since coming back, and no longer the agent he was. M however signs him fit for duty and re-assigns him to locate the man he was originally chasing at the start of the movie. The hard drive that was stolen contained information for every undercover operative in the world, and could expose every undercover spy in the secret service.

This movie does include some exotic locations and excellent fight scenes, but this more Bond back to his roots, I felt like this movie took more from the novels than the movies. It tells a story, there is only action when the story requires it, the plot was extremely well done with some nods to the Bond of old, including seeing the old Astin Martin that Connery often drove, complete with ejector seat and machine guns, and a little sprinkling of the old Bond theme for great effect.

The Last Dragon Movie Review

Being born in the 80's and being a martial arts fan as a kid, I was always going to have a soft spot for this movie. I came across it when I was only small and because the name sounded familiar (Enter the Dragon being my favourite movie at the time). I didn't know then that this would be one of the only times it was ever shown to my knowledge on UK TV. I have never seen it on tv since, and only just recently re-purchased the DVD.

The movie is about a Kung Fu student named "Bruce" Leeroy Green, who wants to reach the final level, a feat only Bruce Lee achieved. The final level is achieved when you are surronded by a mystical glow, showing you are a true kung fu master. Leeroy's master tells him to go and search for a Kung Fu master in New Yor kby the name of Som Dum Guy. At the same time he has fallen for Music Video presenter Laura Charles who wants him to be his body guard to help her from Videogame King Eddie Arcadian. An evil Kung Fu master by the name of Sho-Nuff has also returned to town and wants to fight Leeroy, so he can be the kung fu master of Harlem.

The movie was made by Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records, so naturally the soundtrack is outstanding. The movie features the best of R&B and hip-hop from the time, sprinkled with martial arts references, including 'Rythm of the Night' and '7th Heaven'. The soundtracks is one of the best I have heard in a movie and is strong throughout, with a very strong eighties vibe. If you own a soundtrack for a movie, this has to be it. It is particularly awesome when Laura Charles starts playing a song in the 7th Heaven studio and puts on Enter the Dragon, Leeroy gets WAY to exciting, it is slightly worrying at this point. The only one bad point about the music in the movie is Eddie Arcadian's girlfriend wants to be a popstar and is terrible, but unfortunately we have to suffer through her eye wateringly bad music video.

The Life and Career of Stephen Dorff

Stephen Dorff Jr. was born on July 29, 1973, in Atlanta, Georgia. He is the son of Steve Dorff, a country music songwriter who has worked with such luminaries as George Strait and Clay Walker, garnering multiple awards nominations. He also has composed the score for several television shows, making this a true show business family. Steve and his wife have another son, Andrew, who is a songwriter just like his father.

Though Dorff was born in Atlanta, his father's work was largely in Los Angeles, so the family relocated there, and that is where Dorff and his brother were raised. He attended several private schools in the area, mostly because he kept getting kicked out of them. By Dorff's own count, he was expelled at least five times from various schools in the Los Angeles area.

Despite his troublemaker status at school, casting directors in Hollywood seemed to love the fresh-faced kid, and Dorff soon became a child actor. He was first cast in several commercials for products such as Mattel toys and Kraft foods. By the mid-1980s, he had turned to much bigger acting gigs, actively pursuing film and television roles. His first gig was a one-time guest appearance in 1985 on the popular television show "The New Leave it to Beaver." The same year, he also got a one-time guest gig as Scott on the classic comedy series "Diff'rent Strokes."

Dorff didn't land a single gig in 1986, but then came back into the fold in 1987, when he got his first part in a television movie called "In Love and War" with Jane Alexander and James Woods. Later that year, he also landed his first feature film, a horror movie called "The Gate." Not only was it his first major motion picture, it was a lead role that got him noticed by more casting directors, who were suddenly eager to cast Dorff in their films, even as his troubles at school mounted.

The year 1988 was a big one for the young actor, who was cast in a total of four made-for-television movies. By 1989, he was appearing in guest roles on television again, mixing those gigs in with more television movies.

X Factor: Er, Haven't We Seen You Before?

Has the X Factor exhausted the talent pool for contestants? We ask this question because the amount of returnees to the X Factor in 2013 seems to be huge. In the three weeks of being back on our screens there has been countless occasions where it has been reminded to us that a particular singer had already auditioned.

Amy Motram, Jade Richards, Melanie McCabe, Stephanie Woods, Dolly Rockers, all hopefuls for 2013 and all names that have sang in front of those judges before. But have they really gone away and perfected their performance or are the X Factor's producers now just scraping the barrel of talent?

Perhaps before casting aspersions though it should be a case of looking on an individual basis. Take Stephanie Woods for example, she was just 14 when when she first auditioned, perhaps too young to be in such a competition, but first time round she did make it to the Judges' House stage of the competition. Now 20 though, she's back and wowing the judges, receiving a unanimous "yes" to put her through to the arena auditions. She even reduced former mentor Sharon Osbourne to tears! Perhaps Stephanie summed up her return to the competition best, she told the judges "I've said if I don't get through today or this year then it's not meant to be but I want it so bad now, I'm so ready".

But on the other hand let's look at Jade Richards. Now 23, and four stone lighter, Jade is hoping for third time lucky in 2013. But what with her weight loss, does Jade think that it was her image that was the cause of her failure in 2011 and 2012?

Biography for Xavier Samuel

Xavier Samuel is an Australian actor who was born in Hamilton, Victoria, although he grew up in Adelaide, South Australia. Xavier's parents are Clifford and Maree Samuel. He has an older sister named Bridget and a younger brother named Benedict. Bridget is a stage manager, and Benedict is an actor, producer, and writer.

He completed his high-school years at Rostrevor College and graduated from that institution in 2001. He played Tom Snout in Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in his final year at Rostrevor. Samuel enrolled at Christian Brothers College in 2001, studying drama under the guidance of Amanda Portus. He also began attending Flinders University Drama Centre in 2005, playing Hamlet in his graduate production. He studied under Professor Julie Holledge, a well-known acting teacher at Flinders.

He is best known for his role as Riley Biers in the 2010 movie "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse." He has also played leading roles in "A Few Best Men,""Further We Search," "Newcastle," "The Loved Ones," and "September." Samuel's professional acting debut was in the role of Jason in 2003 on the Australian television show "McLeod's Daughters." He also played Belvile in "The Rover," a 2005 CBC production. His professional stage performances include the role of Colin in the Windmill Performing Arts production of "Two Weeks with the Queen" in 2006. He also performed in "Osama the Hero" at The Old Fitzroy Theatre in 2006. Samuel's next stage role was in "Mercury Fur" at the Griffin Theatre.

He has primarily acted in movies since 2006. He played Theo in "2:37" and Will Turner in "Angela's Decision," which were both released in 2006. His next movie was the 2007 production "September," in which he played Ed Anderson. Samuel played the part of Fergus in the movie "Newcastle" and Boyd in "Dream Life," both of which were released in 2008.

Samuel starred in three productions during 2009. The first was a short work entitled "Drowning," in which he appeared as Dan. "Drowning" was directed by Craig Boreham and also starred Miles Szanto, star of "Elephant Princess." His next film was the horror/thriller "The Loved Ones," appearing in the lead role of Brent. "The Loved Ones" received several nominations for awards, although it failed to win any. Samuel also played Age in the 2009 feature "Further We Search."

Thanks for Sharing - Movie Review

Sex addiction seems to be Hollywood's newest obsession with the dramatic comedy "Thanks for Sharing," the drama "Shame," the comedy "Don Jon," and television's "Californication." Although writer-director Stuart Blumberg surely had good intentions for his film "Thanks for Sharing," its focus is too broad to satisfy most movie goers. Perhaps that's the secret of success for those other productions about sex addiction: a narrowed focus on one person and one addiction.

Thanks for Sharing (which gets its name from the meeting mantra expressed by recovering addicts) explores three men in a sex addiction recovery group and to a lesser extent one woman. The film looks briefly at their romantic relationships, families, friendships with each other, symptoms, temptations, and the overall group dynamics. That's a lot to cover in 112 minutes - too much, in fact.

The Story of Three Addicts

Mark Ruffalo stars as Adam, a recovering sex addict who is five years "sober." He's embarking on a new romance with Phoebe (Gwyneth Paltrow), a beautiful cancer-surviving over-achiever. She immediately reveals her breasts are fake because the old ones tried to kill her. However, Adam gives an evasive half-truth when she asks him if he's an alcoholic because she wants to avoid addicts like her ex-boyfriend. His initial secret will obviously surface later at the most inconvenient time possible. We learn almost nothing about Phoebe's history or why she consistently attracts addicts into her life, nor does Adam share the story of how his addiction originated.

His sponsor, Mike (Tim Robbins, whose performance is exceptionally strong here), gave his wife (Joely Richardson) a disease through his former sex addiction (now 12 years sober) and deals ineffectively with his grown son (Patrick Fugit), who has an ongoing drug addiction. While Mike remains the 12-Step guru at their daily meetings, he's often out of control with his family. The hints of family dysfunction could be a movie entirely by themselves.