danielsan128

A man dressed as Santa Claus is robbing houses in a seedy part of Los Angeles. He is disturbed by the tenants of one particular flat, a fight ensues and he escapes with their rent money. What could have been an interesting opening soon descends into a lazy farce, strewn with archetypal 'black' comedy characters; fast-talking middle aged women, macho convicts with a taste for anal sex, hookers with hearts of gold. No comedic stone is left unturned; but it says a lot about the film that you really don't care what happens to the protagonists. That the film runs for less than 90 minutes is blessing indeed. It's sad to see Ice Cube (once a talented rapper, and interesting actor in Boyz N The Hood) reduced to this shameless mugging.

Watching this movie is like being trepanned with the edge of a concrete block. A colossal waste of your time, and more importantly your money. I had the misfortune to experience this shambles in the cinema. It holds the distinction of being the only time I asked for my money back. In a word: Terrible.

'SF:UK' was a great programme, detailing the developments in British science-fiction writing film and television over the last 100 years. It stretched all the way back to HG Wells, and covered everything in-between...'The Prisoner', 'Dr Who', 'Things To Come','2000AD', 'A Clockwork Orange', Quatermass, and so on.

Particularly brilliant was the episode dealing with comic book legend Alan Moore and his ground breaking comic series' 'Watchmen', and 'V for Vendetta'. Presenter Matthew de Abaitua even managed to secure an interview with the great man.

de Abaitua's droll contributions always made the programme watchable, and helped place developments in British sci-fi within the political and social goings on of the period in question.

Great television. Only problem was it was on at 2.30am!