Not To Be Confused With... #6

Hmm, I wonder which one is the cinema release with recognisable movie star voices in it, and which one is the hastily repackaged and retitled film being released on DVD days earlier to try and trick unsuspecting idiots into picking it up whilst they're whizzing around Tesco? If you need me to tell you which is the correct answer you're in the wrong place.


I'm sure the irony of them calling their next film The Pirates, only to have the title stolen by someone else at the last minute isn't lost on Aardman. Anyway, you've got to admire a film that's called Pirates but features no actual pirates on the cover, instead focusing on a rather dishevelled looking ship and a clunker of a tagline that needs two exclamation points to liven it up a bit. The reason why there's no pirates on the cover is probably because after a little bit of online research (thanks IMDb), I discovered that the original cover for Pirates, or should I say the 2001 German animation The Pirates of Tortuga: Under the Black Flag, looks a little something like this...

I don't know what the guy on the left is so happy about, given that his ship's mostly underwater.

MS ONE: MAXIMUM SECURITY trailer

You have to admire the sheer filmmaking prowess of French director/producer supremo Luc Besson. A lot of the films he produces tend to not be the most original in terms of story, but they've always got that extra bit of oomph that pushes the films dangerously close to ridiculousness. Not sure what I mean? Well, it's quite obvious that this film is just Escape From New York but set in space, even down to the saving of the President's daughter as Guy Pearce's all important reason for being there. He's Snake Plissken without the eye-patch.

Written by Luc Besson along with co-directors James Mather and Stephen St Ledger, kudos to whichever one of them came up with the line, "there's only one man who can get her out. He's the best there is but he's a loose cannon". That's pure action movie brilliance. Despite its clear 'borrowing' from other films, there's one aspect of this film that will guarantee me watching it; the casting of Misfits' Joe Gilgun as the villain. Looking like an outer space crack addict, he's sure to be great value, whatever the quality of the finished product. With his Scottish accent and rough demeanour he looks as menacing as Robert Carlyle in Trainspotting. Space Begbie, you might call him.

There's still some confusion as to what the film's actually called as although the trailer says Lockout, IMDb and other sites are going with the slightly harder to say but more memorable MS One: Maximum Security. If they're still undecided I'm going to put my suggestion forward...

iCheckMovies.com

They say you need to have goals in life and mine is to complete the iMDb top 250. I printed the list out a few years ago and began checking them off one by one. Over the years this list has got lost a couple of times, resulting in my inability to remember whether i've watched a certain movie or not (I don't usually forget if i've seen a film but i didn't NEED to remember, i had it written down!) When i later find the list again i'm often surprised to find films checked off. Well now my worries are over as someone's going to keep my completed list in a safe place on the internet. iCheckMovies.com has numerous lists that are constantly updating and cross-referencing themselves meaning you're completing one list whilst filling in another!

It's good to know how many of Roger Ebert's favourite films i've seen and how many of those are included in the BFI or AFI's top 100 lists. Only problem is i've got less than 75 to go before i complete my top 250, then i'm going to have to complete all the other lists. Check it out.