Its the vampire hit of the year for grown-ups. One key difference between tween smash Twilight and True Blood is that the latter is packed full of shagging. Even the lead, Anna Paquin, who plays telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse (crazy name, crazy gal!) gets her boobs out in this Southern Gothic hokum. The set up is thus: vampires live amongst us but are trying to live respectable lives, swapping eating people for slurping synthetic beverage Tru Blood. Vampire Bill (Stephen Moyer) moves to town and is soon embroiled in a love triangle with Sookie and her bar manager boss Sam. Mayhem ensues! Its a refreshing take on the genre so when the usual clichs pop up (vampires dressed in bondage gear grooving away at an S&M disco and the ubiquitous running-around-a- graveyard-in-a-nightie scene) they really stand out. And special commendation should be given to Ryan Kwanten (Vinnie from Home And Away) as Sookies brother Jason, who takes all his clothes off in every single episode. Really watchable and a must see for any vampire fan. Extras: commentaries, American vampires feature. Andrew Williams First, there were plastic mics, then there were plastic guitars and drum kits, and now its the turn of the turntable to get the rhythm action treatment. But are there enough willing punters out there wanting to find their inner mixologist? DJ Hero comes with a turntable peripheral, with three coloured buttons, a cross fader switch and an effects button thats kinda like the whammy bar on the Guitar Hero or Rock Band guitars. Just like those games, the goal is to tackle tunes at varying levels of difficulty, hitting the relevant buttons at the right beat. With 93 songs mixed together, you work your way through sets of around three to four tracks. Its laid out very similarly to Guitar Hero, with the three colours scrolling down the screen, and once they reach a certain point you have to hit the corresponding button; the harder the difficulty setting, the harder, faster and more complicated the mixing. DJ Hero is a good step for the rhythm action genre, but it probably doesnt quite hit the sort of party fun offered by its rock band- based cousins after all, DJing is a relatively solo pastime. Its also a little pricey and the cross-fader feels too vague. Jane Jane says: The outspoken director is very much a product of the feminist 1970s GIG Passion pit STATE OF PLAY Games reviews with Steven Fox the world. Im so sick of people going whoop! There are two per cent more female directors! So, now there are only 95 per cent guy directors? Whatever. Her solution? I think women should be given 50 per cent of the films to make. Im not kidding! Itll change the world overnight. Women see things differently, so itll be better for everyone, she decrees with an authority that recalls Harvey Keitels description: Jane Campion is a goddess and Im a mere mortal. I fear being struck by lightning bolts. Its not fair and thats it. Its human rights! I want equality! If anyone can, Campion can. Bright Star is in cinemas from Friday. Theres a dark undercurrent of eccentricity which draws us to Pippa Lee (Robin Wright Penn, pictured with Keanu Reeves) a bored housewife teetering on the brink of a breakdown as her life as a Stepford Wife to a much older publisher slowly implodes. Moving into a retirement home, she meets a mysterious man who lives next door (Reeves) and starts to mull over the events leading up to her marriage to Herb (Alan Arkin). Director Rebecca Miller (who also wrote the novel on which the films based) has assembled a cracking cast with Reeves, Julianne Moore and Winona Ryder giving nice turns but its hard to get away from the feeling the story is too slight. Still, its a well-crafted study of ageing, mortality and loss with occasional flashes of inventiveness. Extras: interviews, trailer. Ann Lee The Private Lives Of Pippa Lee Icon, 15, 20 When it comes to bad taste humour, the acerbic stand-up Jimmy Carr can give our own Tommy Tiernan a run for his money. How about paedophilia, date rape and gay priests (or just priests as Carr calls them)? Yup, its highly offensive (but highly amusing) business as usual for Carr on this, his fifth live stand-up DVD which, to his credit, bears not a sign of recycled material. The suited satirist spares the sensibilities of nothing and no one as he unleashes a relentless arsenal of trademark one-liners and stinging observations. Heed the 18 cert as theres some pretty sick source material covered here that youll probably hate yourself for laughing at (Joseph Fritzl jokes anyone?) but, hey, thats Carrs schtick and there are few as masterful at bad taste humour as he is. Extras: Jimmys Twitter Diary, Comedy Central Special and bonus material. Damian Tully-Pointon Johnny Depps a gangster, Christian Bales the cop hunting him and given the directors Michael Mann (Miami Vice), this looks lushly set to be the 21st century replay of his classic 1995 cat- and-mouse crime thriller, Heat. instead its deeply disappointing. John Dillinger (Depp), was a dashing Depression era gangster who could rob a bank in one minute and 40 seconds flat. No jail can hold him, much to the shame of FBI Boss J Edgar Hoover, who sets his best man (Bale) on the case. Yet where Heat crackled with tense Al Pacino / Robert de Niro face- offs, here nemesis tension is set to near zero. Bale, acting as bland as is humanly possible, is practically a third wheel. Meanwhile, Depp brings nothing substantial to the role beyond a fetching pair of cheekbones. The overlong, oddly undramatic story makes jabs at being about something e.g. the symbiosis between Hollywood mythology and criminal reality, yet in the end it never really amounts to a hill of beans. Extras: director commentary. Larushka Ivan- Zadeh Staying In DVD Reviews Jimmy Carr: Telling Jokes 4DVD, 18, 22 just priests as Carr calls Public Enemies Universal Pictures,15, 22 True Blood HBO Home Entertainment, 18, 45 DJ Hero X360, 117 (also available on PS3, Wii and PS2, 96) Forza Motorsport 3 X360, 56 Monday, November 2, 2009 metrolife 13 Microsofts exclusive racing franchise and its answer to Gran Turismo is now even bigger and better, with more than 400 cars, most of which are driveable from the get-go, and around 100 different tracks to race round. Yep, theres rather a lot to do in Forza. As with most racing games, you start your racing career by picking a low-level car think more Ford Fiesta than Pagani Zonda and by performing admirably on the tarmac, you gain credits that afford you the ability to upgrade your ride to your hearts content from new tyres, engines, turbo, suspension etc; you name it and its there to be upgraded. Tweak to the max, and you get the best performance from your vehicle but if youre not knowledgeable in fine tuning, you can just click Quick Upgrade, making it much more accessible than the previous games. FM3 also has a great online play; theres eight-player multiplayer and you can buy pre-created upgrade kits, paint jobs and more, all bought with credits earned in the races in which you participate. With FM3 running at 60Hz, theres also that essential feel of pace and speed. CHARACTER STUDY Susan Hills favourite fictional character When he chatted with Metro ahead of his Electric Picnic appearance in September, Passion Pit frontman Michael Angelakos got a little impatient when our interviewer likened the group to MGMT. Sure, theres a certain similarity both US outfits trade in glitter-coated psychedelia wrapped in old-school synths and arty disco. But at EP, only one group rose triumphant. A sluggish MGMT failed to engage the crowd, leaving it to 2 Many DJs to animate the formers single Kids with an exhilarating remix. Meanwhile, Massachusetts electro five-piece Passion Pit delved into their album Manners with aplomb, bringing woozy pop classics like Sleepy Head and the zingy Little Secrets to life. Its not every indie group that has the power to cause a pile up on the dancefloor but Passion Pit are one of them. And for the record, theyre adamant they take their name from a 1950s drive-in and not a particularly orgiastic porn movie. Daragh Reddin Tonight, The Academy, 57 Middle Abbey Street D1, 8pm, 15.50. Tel: 0818 719 300. www.passionpitmusic.com Snufkin, from Tove Janssons Finn Family Moomintroll series of books for children aged five to 105, is the perfect character, the best, best friend. He is a nomad and a free spirit, goes south every winter and returns with the spring, causing delight in Moominvalley with each reappearance. Hes a loner, a romantic, maybe a bit of an anarchist, he travels light, lives in a tent and plays the harmonica. I love the way he has few worldly goods and is attached to fewer still, saying he prefers keeping the memory of a thing rather than the thing itself. He has had his hat since he was born, his clothes are tatty and green and he is the friend to all, but particularly to people who are small, or shy, or worried. His presence always reassures, his company always delights and I would go south with him any winter. Susan Hills book Howards End Is On The Landing is published by Profile Books, priced 15 index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html