Film Reviews This Weeks Releases Check out the cash metro Arts & Entertainment life Alchemy Launch In Town This Weekend The new nightclub in the Temple Bar Hotel officially opens its doors with a special performance by Jape (pictured). The event is co- hosted by Michelle Doherty and Baz Ashmawy with proceeds going to Amnesty International Tonight, Alchemy, 13 to 17 Fleet Street D2, 10.30pm, 12. Tel: (01) 612 9286 www.alchemyclub.ie Dr Hook The New Jersey country rock outfit were huge in the 1970s when they gave us such enduring/nauseating hits as Sylvias Mother and When Youre In Love With A Beautiful Woman Tomorrow, Olympia Theatre, 72 Dame Street D2, 8pm, 24.50. Tel: 0818 719 300. www.drhookraysawyer.com Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions Mazzy Stars frontwoman is reunited with My Bloody Valentines Colm Cosig to showcase tracks from new album Through The Devil Softly, the long overdue follow up to Bavarian Fruit Bread Tomorrow, Vicar Street, 58-59 Thomas Street D8, 8pm, 28. Tel: 0818 719 300. www.hopesandoval.com Book Now Toys 4 Big Boys Toys 4 Big Boys returns to the RDS Main Hall with a raft of testosterone-inducing motors, military vehicles, gadgets, gizmos and an All-New Live Action Arena featuring a strongman challenge and quad bike racing. This year ticket prices are being rolled back to their 2007 level, giving the boys (and the girls) a chance to get up close and personal with the kind of gizmos that would make James Bonds Q proud. Nov 5 to Nov 8, RDS, Merrion Road, Ballsbridge D4, 10 to 16, times vary. www. toys4bigboys.ie Dead Man Running (15A) Running time: 92min 9 (12A) Running time: 79min An Education (15A) Running time: 100min Tales From The Golden Age (12A) Running time: 131min Michael Jacksons This Is It (PG) Running time: 111min T his behind-the-scenes doc is allegedly for the fans but few would consider it a selfless enterprise. In what is surely a way of clawing back the cash lost on an awesome-looking 50-date sell out concert that never was, you cant help but feel uncomfortable at this latest attempt to flog Jacko, whose still barely cold in his grave. This rehearsal footage certainly sends a spooky shiver given youre watching a dead man moon-walking. And its increasingly difficult not to wince at the 50-year-olds spindly form: by Billie Jean he looks like a scarecrow without the stuffing, during Thriller hes the only one who doesnt need the ghoul make-up. Yet what shines through is Jacksons gracious professionalism and energetic drive for perfection. His mumbly speech may sound suspiciously slurred, but his singing voice is pure. Ill Be There rings out like a bell across a glacier. His moves may be at half- energy rehearsal power, but just one deceptively fluid, yet fiercely tight flick of his loafers outclasses backing dancers half his age. Of course its loyally edited: we never see MJ looking tired, late, drugged up or cross or, more frustratingly, ever talking to camera. Well get there, he gently reassures his whooping, sycophantic crew this is why we rehearse. A timely reminder of what talent really is in an X-Factor age where any schmuck can be a star. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh 12 metrolife Friday, October 30, 2009 The Lock, Stock legacy lives on in this cockney race-against-time thriller starring Danny Dyer (of course). Ex-con Nick (Tamer Hassan) has 24 hours to come up with the cash he owes loan shark Thigo (an unconvincing 50 Cent). Meanwhile Nicks wheelchair-bound mother (Brenda Blethyn), is trapped at home making small-talk with Thigos minion Johnny (Phil Davis). Its very silly, but its also peppy and fitfully fun. Dyer doesnt hog the spotlight, playing a fast-thinking coke-snorting sidekick with ease. Now and then, the film drops its confident tone: dialogue goes from witty to clichd and subplots are neglected. Most of the latter involve women; namely Nicks dominatrix girlfriend Frankie (Monet Mazur) and his mother. However, the scenes between Blethyn and Davis could be a film in themselves: Blethyns pitch-perfect performance being this clock-tickers one outstanding element. Otherwise, its got late-night-DVD written all over it. Anna Smith Writer Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, Fever Pitch) takes a breather from being all about the boys to pen this nifty little number about a 16-year-old schoolgirl, adapted from the memoirs of Grumpy Old Woman Lynn Barber. Our heroine is Jenny (Carey Mulligan already tipped for an Oscar), a dutiful, London suburban schoolgirl with a Clueless-style affectation for French phrases, who dreams of studying English at Oxford. That is until shes picked up from the school gates by a trs chic older man, David (Peter Sarsgaard), in a super-glam sports car, who whisks her away to a world of nightclubs, Paris mini-breaks and petty crime. Paedophilia, perhaps surprisingly, isnt the issue here, and social choices for clever girls (this being a spiffingly recreated 1961) are more thematic wallpaper. As ever, Hornby is more interested in the confrontation of self-cocooning fantasy with cold reality, of learning to grow up and take responsibility for your life, whatever your age. Jenny, indeed, is almost frighteningly self-assured. Thankfully Barbers character is softened by Mulligan, all dimples and duffle coat, as the uncertain (if precocious) Camus- reading, crafty, cig-puffing teen. The support cast is cracking. Dominic Cooper is ideal as a spiv, while a refreshingly hilarious Rosamund Pike is a dead cert for a Supporting Actress gong with her scene- stealing dappy posh girl. LI-Z Not to be confused with Nine the upcoming all- star musical, this bizarre Tim Burton-produced stitchpunk animation feels closer to a Japanese anim: ie, cute big-eyed characters fight evil in a robot-riddled dystopia with a plot thats utterly incomprehensible. Possibly its Burtons influence, but the beginning of Shane Ackers debut starts like Edward Scissorhands retold with sock puppets. A small sackcloth creature labeled 9 (voiced by Elijah Wood) springs to life as his inventor dies. He hooks up with others of his tribe and um, at that point I totally lost the plot. Its ours! one character cries. Eh what is? Theyre trapped inside! panics 9. Er who are? This charmlessly over-computerised caper is so over-action packed youve no time to get to know any of its characters, let alone care about their fate. Too dark for littluns, too hectic and cutesy for adults, its pretty much guaranteed to please no one. LI-Z The Golden Age was how contemporary propaganda dubbed Nicolae Ceausescus devastating 15- year dictatorship AND ANOTHER THING... Halloween Antics Bram Stokers Dracula is the inspiration for this festival taking place across the city today. Highlights include Laurence Foster reading from Dracula (Dublin Castle, 1pm) and a mini-parade leaving Barnardo Square at 6.45pm and making its way to the Civic Amphitheatre in Wood Quay where fire performers and stilt walkers will cheer the undead (7pm to 8pm). Halloween Fantazia Join DJ Danny Howells and 1,200 ghoulish clubbers for an ber- trendy fancy dress party Tonight & tomorrow, Pod, Harcourt Street D2, 11pm, 15. Tel: 0818 719 300. www.pod.ie Halloween Comedy Festive special with Sue Coffin Collins, Rowan Werewolf Campbell and Martin Dracula Davies Tonight, The Laughter Lounge, Eden Quay D1, 7.30pm, 25. Tel: 1800 266 339. www. laughterlounge.com Halloween Bash For Cash Costume ball in aid of The Irish Cancer Society with raffle prizes including vouchers for Brown Thomas and Chapter One Tomorrow, Thomas Prior Hall, Ballsbridge D4, 8pm, 30. Tel: 087 778 2429 The hoTTesT TickeTs in Town We have ten pairs of VIP tickets to Toys 4 Big Boys Preview on Nov 4 to give away For a chance to win, e-mail your answer to the question below to life@metroireland.ie by noon today with Hot Tickets in the subject line. With your answer please include your name, address and a number where you can be contacted between 1pm and 3pm. Strictly one entry per person; entrants must be age 18+. Q. Apprentice host Bill Cullen drives which car? A Bentley Continental B Lada Priora The winners of yesterdays tickets to see Lady GaGa are: Margo Ring & Gerry Brett index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html