The Best Of X-Men (2000 -2009)

1. X-Men (2000): In Congress, Senator Robert Kelly attempts to pass a "Mutant Registration Act", which would force mutants to publicly reveal their identities and abilities. Magneto begins his plans to level the playing field between mutants and humans. Meanwhile, a girl named Rogue runs away from her home in Meridian, Mississippi. She meets Wolverine in Canada. Suddenly, both of them are attacked by Sabretooth, a mutant and associate of Magneto. Cyclops and Storm arrive and save Wolverine and Rogue and bring them to the X-Mansion. Professor Charles Xavier runs the facility, and leads a group of mutants who are trying to seek peace with the human race, educate young mutants in the responsible use of their powers, and stop Magneto from starting a war with humanity.
Senator Kelly is abducted by Mystique and Toad, and brought to Magneto, who tests a machine on Kelly that artificially induces mutation. Kelly manages to escape imprisonment with his new abilities. After an accident causes Rogue to use her powers on Wolverine, she is convinced by Mystique (disguised as Bobby Drake, a boy who Rogue begins to romance) that Xavier is angry with her and that she should leave the school. Xavier uses Cerebro to locate Rogue at a train station. Mystique infiltrates Cerebro and sabotages the machine. Wolverine convinces Rogue to stay with Xavier. A fight ensues with Wolverine, Cyclops and Storm against Magneto, Toad and Sabretooth. Rogue is taken by Magneto. Senator Kelly arrives at Xavier's school, but dissolves into a puddle of water when his mutation becomes unstable.
The X-Men learn that Magneto intends to use Rogue's ability on himself so that Rogue can power his machine. Xavier attempts to use Cerebro to locate Rogue, but Mystique's sabotage causes him to fall into a coma. Jean fixes and uses Cerebro to find Magneto's machine on Liberty Island, which Magneto intends to use on the world leaders who are meeting for a summit on nearby Ellis Island. Just as the group arrives at the top of the statue, Magneto and Sabretooth incapacitate the group and continue with their plans. Magneto transfers his powers to Rogue who is forced to use them to start the machine. Wolverine breaks free and initiates a fight with Sabretooth; however, Wolverine is thrown over the side of the statue and Sabretooth redirects himself to the group to finish them off.
Wolverine returns, and Cyclops, with Jean's help, blasts Sabretooth out of the statue. With Jean stabilizing him, Storm uses her abilities to send Wolverine to the top of Magneto's machine. With time running out, Wolverine attempts to stop the machine and save Rogue, but Magneto, now having regained some of his strength, halts Wolverine's claws. Cyclops manages to find a clean shot, wounding Magneto and allowing Wolverine to destroy the machine. Placing his hand to her face, Wolverine succeeds in transferring his regenerative abilities to a dying Rogue. Professor Xavier recovers from his coma, and the group learns that Mystique is still alive when they see her impersonating Senator Kelly on a news broadcast. In an attempt to help Wolverine learn more about his past, Xavier sends him to a military base near Alkali Lake. Xavier visits Magneto in his plastic prison cell, and the two play chess. Magneto warns his friend that he will continue his fight, to which Xavier promises that he (and the X-Men) will always be there to stop him.


2. X2 (2003): Nightcrawler, a teleporting mutant, attempts to assassinate the President in the White House, but he fails and escapes. Wolverine reappears after discovering nothing at Alkali Lake, while Storm and Jean find Nightcrawler with the help of Professor Xavier and Cerebro. Cyclops and Professor X visit Magneto in his plastic prison to see if he had any part in the attack on the President. Reading Magneto's mind, Professor X discovers that a covert government operative, William Stryker, has been extracting information from Magneto. A trap is sprung and Cyclops and Professor X are captured by Stryker and his assistant Yuriko Oyama. A military raid of the X-Mansion begins, with the soldiers sedating every student they find; some escape, while Wolverine encounters Stryker, who makes snide remarks about, but tells Wolverine nothing about his past.
Impersonating Senator Robert Kelly and Yuriko, Mystique gains information about Magneto's prison and provides a means for him to escape. Wolverine, along with Rogue, Iceman and Pyro, heads to Iceman's home in Boston. After a 9-1-1 call by Bobby's brother Ronnie, the police arrive just as the group is about to leave, ensuing into a dispute with Pyro. The X-Jet arrives to pick them all up, and the X-Men team with Magneto and Mystique. Magneto has learned Stryker orchestrated the attack on the President and has been experimenting on mutants, using a drug injected directly into the back of the neck to control them. Jean reads Nightcrawler's mind and determines that Stryker's base is located at Alkali Lake, inside the dam. He has also stolen enough equipment from Xavier's own Cerebro unit to build a second Cerebro, with which he plans to kill all the world's mutants.
Stryker gains control over Professor Xavier through his son, Jason Stryker, who is able to project powerful visions in the mind, blinding a person to reality. Professor X is instructed to use Cerebro to find and kill all existing mutants. Mystique infiltrates Stryker's base using a number of disguises. As the X-Men enter Storm and Nightcrawler pair off, searching for kidnapped students. Jean, Magneto, and Mystique are attacked by a brainwashed Cyclops on their way to rescue Professor X, causing damage to the generators that keep the dam from collapsing. The force of Jean's telekinetic blast awakens Cyclops from his brainwashing. Wolverine finds Stryker in an adamantium smelting room along with Lady Deathstrike. Wolverine and Deathstrike begin fighting, but despite a brief struggle, Wolverine defeats and kills her. Wolverine finds Stryker on a landing pad, while Stryker attempts to bargain Wolverine for his life with stories of his past. Wolverine refuses and leaves him for dead, stabbing him and chaining him to the helicopter wheel.
Mystique, disguised as Stryker, uses Jason to convince Professor X to kill all humans. Magneto and Mystique use Stryker's helicopter to escape Alkali Lake, chaining Stryker to concrete rubble, and are also joined by Pyro. Meanwhile, Nightcrawler teleports Storm inside of Cerebro, where she frees the Professor from his telepathic illusion. A malfunction aboard the X-Jet prevents it from taking off, and the dam finally bursts. The flood gets stronger, drowning Stryker. Jean leaves the jet and creates a telekinetic wall in order to stop the wave, and at the same time raises the jet above the flood waters; all the while surrounded by a corona of fire. Jean activates the X-Jet's primary engines, before releasing the torrent of water down on herself. The X-Men are able to supply the President with files from Stryker's private offices, and Professor X warns him that humans and mutants must work together to build peace, or they will destroy each other through war. The film ends with a voiceover by Jean Grey on the process of evolution (a speech originally made by Professor Xavier in the introduction of the first film). The camera floats over Alkali Lake, showing a vague shape of a Phoenix in the lake.

3. X-Men: The Last Stand (2006): A pharmaceutical company called Worthington Labs announces that it has developed an inoculation to permanently suppress the X-gene that gives mutants their powers, offering the so-called "cure" to any mutant who wants it; the cure is derived from a mutant boy named Jimmy. While some mutants are interested in the cure, including the X-Men's Rogue, many others are horrified by the announcement. In response to the news, the X-Men's adversary Magneto begins to raise an army, warning his followers that, like his experiences in the Holocaust, the cure will be forcefully used to exterminate the mutant race.
Cyclops, still heartbroken about the loss of Jean Grey, returns to Alkali Lake, where Jean sacrificed herself to save the X-Men. He hears her voice and begs for it to stop, finally taking off his sunglasses and his eye beam shoots through the water. Jean then appears out of the water to Cyclops, and as the two kiss, Jean changes and appears to kill Cyclops. Sensing trouble, Professor Charles Xavier sends Wolverine and Storm to investigate. When they arrive, the two X-Men encounter telekinetically floating rocks, Cyclops' glasses, and an unconscious Jean. Meanwhile Magneto ambushes a military transport and frees Juggernaut, Mystique and Multiple Man, during which Mystique blocks a shot of the mutant cure aimed at Magneto, only to be left behind because she is not "one of them" anymore.
Xavier explains to Wolverine that the majority of Jean's power is seated in her unconscious mind and that, as a result, her powers are largely fueled by instinct, and not under her complete control. In fact, when Jean was a little girl she was so powerful that he had to put telepathic blocks on her mind to help keep her powers under control. Her bottled up powers manifested themselves as an id-like alternate personality called the "Phoenix" — a purely instinctual creature, ruled only by its own violent desires. Initially skeptic, Wolverine becomes more convinced when Jean reawakes, acting strange and aggressive. He asks about Cyclops, but she cannot remember and fears she killed him. Jean pleads with Wolverine to kill her before she harms anybody else, but when he refuses and offers to have Xavier help her, the Phoenix resurfaces and telekinetically slams Wolverine into a wall. She then flees to her childhood home, with Xavier, Wolverine and Storm in pursuit. Magneto, also aware that Jean's powers are loose, meets Xavier at Jean's house. The two men plead for Jean's loyalty until the Phoenix resurfaces, unleashing her devastating power. Furious at being caged within Jean's subconscious for twenty years, she destroys her family's house and engages in a psychic battle with Xavier. She eventually overpowers and disintegrates Xavier before leaving with Magneto.
Following the losses of Xavier and Cyclops, and pained by her inability to get physically close to her boyfriend, Rogue decides to take the mutant cure. The X-Men regroup and confront Magneto's army, which is attacking the pharmaceutical company's laboratory on Alcatraz Island. The battle begins when Magneto moves the Golden Gate Bridge to land at Alcatraz Island, which is being guarded only by a company of soldiers. The Brotherhood's first charge is ineffective as Magneto is unable to destroy the soldiers' plastic weapons. The first group of mutants, which Magneto refers to as "pawns", are hit with the cure cartridges and depowered. His minion, Arclight, destroys the weapons with her shockwave, as the X-Men arrive: Magneto derides them as traitors and orders his army to attack as the X-Men confront them to give Kitty Pryde time to save Jimmy, narrowly defeating Juggernaut. Iceman goes one-on-one with Pyro, where he transforms his entire body into ice, freezes Pyro's hands, and defeats him by delivering a strong headbutt to Pyro's head. Wolverine distracts Magneto while Beast injects him with the cure, nullifying his mutant powers. After this, Wolverine nearly coaxes Jean back to sanity; however, soldiers arrive and fire upon Jean. The Phoenix quickly resurfaces and, in her rage, begins to disintegrate everything and everyone around her, vaporizing the soldiers along with Worthington Labs. While the other X-Men, soldiers and the remnants of Magneto's army flee to safety, Wolverine fights his way to Jean, relying upon his healing abilities to save himself from her destructive power. When he reaches her, the Phoenix coldly snarls at Wolverine being willing to die for the others, to which he retorts that he would only die for her. Momentarily regaining control, Jean begs Wolverine to save her. Wolverine confesses his love for Jean, and reluctantly kills her with his claws.
Despite the X-Men's losses, life goes on. The school will continue without Xavier, with Storm now in control. Rogue returns and tells Iceman she had to take the "cure." The two reconcile and continue their relationship, now able to touch each other. Magneto, now an ordinary man, sits at a chessboard in a park and reaches out toward a metal chess piece that moves slightly, indicating that the mutant cure isn't as permanent as was originally thought.
Following the closing credits, Dr. Moira MacTaggert checks on a comatose patient who greets her with Xavier's voice, implying that he has transferred his mind into this new body.

4. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009): James Logan aka Wolverine and his brother Victor Creed (who will later become Sabretooth) run away together as children in the mid 1850's after Logan kills their biological father who had murdered Logan's adoptive father. After serving together in many wars they are recruited by William Stryker to serve in a special unit made up of mutants. After wiping out an African villiage, Logan quits the unit and goes off to live a life of peace in the Canadian Rockies with his girlfriend later to be known as the Silver Fox.
Six years pass for the both of them until Stryker shows up and asks Logan to come back and be a part of a new Weapon X project. Logan refuses but Creed shows up and murders Logan's girlfriend leaving him wanting revenge against his brother. Logan accepts Strykers offer to be infused with Adamantium so that he can be indestructable and go after his revenge but is double crossed by Stryker and hears him give the order to wipe his memories. Escaping before this can happen, he goes searching for Creed killing anyone who gets in his way.
After reuniting with a few members of his old team, he finds out that Stryker and Creed are actually working together to kidnap mutants and keep them in confinement working on a new project, Weapon XI and that only one person knows where their new base of operations is. Remy LeBeau aka Gambit is the only mutant to escape this place and Logan along with John Wraith go searching for him in New Orleans. They find him in a card game where Logan tries to question him but with less than desireable results. After being blasted through a wall by Gambit, Logan sees Creed standing over the dead body of Wraith and the fight is on. Right when Logan is about to get his revenge and kill Creed, Gambit comes flying in with his staff and blows everyone apart. Creed uses this distraction to escape while Logan and Gambit go at it. After showing Gambit the light (with his claws), Gambit agrees to take Logan to Three Mile Island where the facility is hidden.
Arriving at Three Mile Island by plane, Logan finds many mutant children kept prisoner by Stryker and Creed with the support of the U.S. Government. Logan confronts Stryker while he is at the finishing point of his Weapon XI project and learns the truth that Silver Fox isn't dead but was keeping and eye on him those six years and manipulating him with her mutant power of persuasion. After leaving, Fox confronts Stryker demanding the release of her sister only to be placated and told to wait. Creed comes in and Fox tries to persuade him that Stryker is only using them. Only this doesn't work and she is almost killed by Creed. Logan hears her screams and comes to her rescue almost killing Creed but being convinced by Fox that if he does that then they will be no better then Stryker. She also convinces him that she truly loves him.
Fox and Logan then go to free the children. Fox leads them out of the facility while Logan goes in search of Stryker. In a firefight, Fox is wounded and sends the children on while she goes back to look for Logan. The children make it out of the facility and are met by none other than Charles Xavier who offers them a ride in his helicopter and protection at his school.
While Logan is searching, Stryker activates Weapon XI who is a combination of all the mutants abilities with none of their weaknesses. XI and Logan's fight ranges from the inside to the outer top of a nuclear reactor and it appears Logan is outmatched until Creed shows up to help save him using the line; "No one is allowed to kill you except me..." Back to back they take on XI together until Creed grabs him by the neck, stabs him in the chest and Logan decapitates him with those claws. XI's head and body go falling into the reactor cutting chunks out of it the whole way down. Logan tells Creed that this changes nothing and they go their seperate ways.
After getting to the ground, Logan is saved from the falling debris of the reactor by Gambit. They then go their seperate ways in search for Stryker but Logan comes upon the wounded body of Fox and starts carrying her toward the plane. Stryker intercepts them and shoots Logan in the head with Adamantium bullets which are the only thing that can really "hurt" him. This knocks him out long enough for him to go after Silver Fox but she turns the tables by touching his ankle and telling him to "walk until you bleed... Then keep walking."
Gambit comes back finding Logan regaining consciousness but without any memories. Finding the body of Silver Fox, Gambit asks if Logan knows her but he doesn't. Going their seperate ways, the movie ends here but you should watch through the credits all the way. Stryker is picked up by the MP's with bloody feet for the murder of a general and Logan is last seen in an Asian bar drinking shots and trying to remember who he is. *JA*


By Richard Moody

Richard And Friends Favourite British Film

1. Last Holiday (1950): Humble salesman George Bird (Guinness) visits a physician for a routine checkup and is told he has a rare terminal illness and less than a year to live. Originally dismayed and unaccepting of the news, he eventually becomes resigned to accept the physician’s advice: To take all of his life’s savings and enjoy himself in the time he has left. Being a lifelong bachelor with no immediate family to leave his modest savings, Bird decides to spend his last days at an upscale residential hotel with many British elite.
Bird’s generosity and unassuming attitude generate a great deal of interest among residents at the hotel. With an odd clarity of focus as his end draws near, he soon becomes an enigma, with aristocrats speculating about his lineage and possible nobility. Bird soon falls in love (possibly for the first time in his life) and is offered a fruitful business opportunity, but these events only serve to make him reflect on what he had not achieved in life.
Finally, Bird speaks to a hotel guest who is the namesake of the disease he was diagnosed with. The physician assures him there must be a mistake and that Bird does not have the disease. After a trip back to the city, Bird confirms the mistake, and is ready to begin life anew with his sweetheart and his business opportunity. The twist is that he never makes it back to the hotel. He ends up in a car accident on the way and is killed. The hotel guests, having learned the truth, have already dismissed Bird and their good opinions of him when they are informed that he has died.


By Richard Moody, James Conlon & Ben Lindley

Richard's Favorite Bruce Lee Movies

1. The Big Boss (1971): Cheng is a Chinese man from Guangdong who has moved to Thailand, with the help of his uncle, to find a job working with his cousins in an ice factory. When a block of ice is accidentally broken, something that looks like a block of white powder comes out. Later that night, the two cousins who discovered the heroin were asked to stay to see the manager. They were told that there are better jobs for them. Apparently, the factory is a front for a drug smuggling ring led by the Big Boss, Hsiao Mi. The cousins were offered good positions. When they declined, they were murdered.
Hsiao Mi attempts to cover up the murders, but Cheng and his surviving cousins became suspicious. Two more of his cousins, Hsu Chien and Ah Pei, go to Mi's house to ask if he knows what happened to them. When they realize he is acting suspicious and start toward the police station, Mi also has them killed (but not before Hsu takes several of Mi's men down with him). Hsiao Mi then distracts Cheng by promoting him to foreman and providing him with alcohol and prostitutes (turning some of his cousins against him). However, out of affection, one of the prostitutes revealed the truth to Cheng. He broke into the factory one night and discovered, to his horror, his cousins' corpses. Cheng's snooping around was immediately discovered by a gang led by Hsiao Mi's son, Hsiao Chiun.
Cheng defeated the gang and killed many, including Hsiao Chiun. Unfortunately he returned home only to find that his entire family has been murdered. Cheng exacted revenge by killing Hsiao Mi in the final fight, by stabbing him with his own fingers. He then surrendered to the police.

2. Fist Of Fury (1972): he film is loosely based on Chin Woo Athletic Association, the actual school from which the film took its Chinese title. The plot features the story of Chen Zhen a fictional character created by director Lo Wei for the film. Chen Zhen is shown as a student of the real-life martial artist Huo Yuanjia who, after the mysterious death of Huo, fought the Hongkou Dojo of Suzuki Taro.
The film takes place in the early 20th century, after the mysterious death of Huo Yuanjia, and during the occupation of Shanghai and virtually all of coastal China by several foreign countries, including Japan. It is about a Chinese Martial Arts school whose master (Huo) was recently killed by men associated with a rival Japanese Martial Arts School who continue to harass them. Chen is out to find out who is responsible for his master's death and get justice.
The real Jing Wu school still survives to this day and can be found in many major cities abroad. Their headquarters are in Malaysia, and their students strive to keep the Jing Wu spirit to this day.
The film is famous for the scene in which Chen Zhen is denied entry into a park bearing a sign stating "No Dogs and Chinese Allowed." After the turban-wearing Sikh guard at the park allows a foreigner's dog to enter the park, a man out of a group of Japanese approaches Chen and tells him that if he pretends to be a dog then he will take him inside. Chen becomes furious and proceeds to attack the Japanese with punches and kicks. He then kicks the offending sign in the air and breaks it with a flying kick. Another famous scene is when Chen enters the Japanese school to return a "gift" from the Japanese, which is a pejorative sign meaning "Sick man of Asia" After defeating the entire school, including the sensei, he destroys the glass-covered portrait of the aforementioned sign and forces two of the students to chew the paper so as to fulfill their promise that they would literally "eat their words" if they were defeated. Finally, the final scene of the film of Chen charging and making a flying kick at a line of armed soldiers just before they shoot was well received with Chinese audiences as a show of ferocious ethnic pride.
The former U.S. title The Chinese Connection, trading off the popularity of the recently-released Gene Hackman film The French Connection, was originally intended for Bruce Lee's previous film, The Big Boss, due to the drugs theme of that movie. However, the U.S. titles for the films were accidentally swapped for an unknown reason so this film carried the title The Chinese Connection until 2005, despite being obviously unrelated to the content of the movie. The Big Boss in the U.S. had the title Fists of Fury, leading to much confusion. Recent American TV showings and the current official US DVD release from Twentieth Century-Fox have restored the original titles of all the renamed Bruce Lee films; this film is now officially called Fist of Fury in the United States.
This film is one of Bruce Lee's most influential works, as it is one of the main reasons behind the shift in Hong Kong cinema from swordplay to empty-handed fighting, which initiated the "Golden era of Kung Fu Cinema" of the 1970s.

3. Way Of The Dragon (1972): Tang Lung (Bruce Lee) is sent from Hong Kong to Rome to help his sick friend's niece Miss Chen and some family friends whose restaurant is being targeted by the local gangsters and forcing them to sign a contract which will make the Mafia boss gain control of the property. After their offers to purchase the restaurant are repeatedly turned down, the gangsters resort to intimidation. Tang Lung fends off the local gangsters and gains Miss Chen's interest, who up until now has looked down on Tang for his innocence from his hesitance of putting his savings into a bank to unknowingly going home with a prostitute whilst touring Rome with Miss Chen.
The Mafia boss (played by John Benn) sends a gunman, but Tang Lung defeats him with his throwing wooden darts and fractures his neck. The Mafia boss then goes to the restaurant himself along with all his gangster thugs to make Miss Chen sign the contract. Tang Lung defeats them all with his fighting skills with help from a bo staff and two nunchakus. He then warns that if the boss comes to threaten his friends once more, he will take drastic actions. After a failed second attempt at Miss Chen's apartment by the gunman (who now sports a neck brace but manages to escape), Tang Lung and his friends go to save Miss Chen who has been kidnapped by the Mafia boss to sign the contract at his headquarters.
The Mafia boss hires foreign martial artists who have trouble communicating with each other, played by Robert Wall and In Sik Whang, to challenge Tang Lung but he defeats them both with help from friends in a countryside near the Colosseum. The final duel takes place between Tang Lung and the best of the foreign martial artists, Colt (Chuck Norris), in the Colosseum itself, in an iconic fight scene. Tang Lung kills Colt, but covers his body with Colt's white gi to show his respect and admiration, and the Mafia boss is finally arrested whilst the other villains are killed. Having solved the problem, Tang Lung departs Rome alone.

4. Enter The Dragon (1973): Lee (portrayed by Bruce Lee) is a Shaolin martial artist in Hong Kong. He possesses great philosophical insight into martial arts as well as physical prowess, and this has earned him an invitation to a martial arts tournament organized by the mysterious Han (played by Shih Kien), though he does not wish to attend. Lee's sifu (master) informs him that Han was once a Shaolin student as well, but he abandoned them and their moral code, abusing his skills to gain wealth and power. A man named Braithwaite (portrayed by Geoffrey Weeks) visits the Shaolin temple to speak with Lee. Braithwaite is the representative of an international intelligence organization that has been secretly investigating Han.
The island where Han's tournament is held every three years was purchased by Han after World War II, when its nationality was uncertain. The island is now beyond international jurisdiction. Han is a heroin and opium dealer, systematically building his customers' dependence on the drugs to ensure their continued business. He also runs a substantial prostitution ring on his island. Han's martial arts school and tournament are a front for Han to recruit new talent. Han reigns over his island like a king, living decadently in a grand palace.
Though Braithwaite's organization knows all of this, they lack proof. Several months earlier, Braithwaite's organization stationed a female operative, Mei Ling (Betty Chung), on Han's island, as one of his palace maidens (who double as prostitutes). They have had no further contact from her. Braithwaite wants Lee to attend Han's tournament as a cover for him to obtain proof of Han's illicit activities. If this proof can be found then Braithwaite could, under international law, send in the troops and break-up the organization. Since Han does not allow firearms on his island, both to prevent a pretext for being raided for stockpiling any arsenal and to inhibit assassination threats, Lee's mastery of hand to hand combat will be a definite advantage for his mission.
Braithwaite shows Lee a short video taken of Han and his bodyguard Oharra (Robert Wall), who is a professional martial artist. Lee agrees to enter the tournament, both on behalf of Braithwaite and his sifu, who has requested Lee reclaim their "lost honour."
Before leaving, Lee informs his father, who decides to tell Lee the truth about the death of his sister, so that he can pay proper respect at her grave on the way. During preparations for the previous tournament three years earlier, some of Han's men, led by Oharra, came to the city. Lee's father and sister were also visiting the city and came across the men, who attempted to rape Lee's sister. Lee's father scarred Oharra's face with a knife, but was knocked unconscious. Lee's sister was cornered, and she committed suicide with a shard of broken glass to avoid rape by Oharra and his men.
Although he intends to complete his mission honourably, Lee finds he is also driven to take vengeance upon Oharra. He quietly asks forgiveness for what he is about to do at the graves of his mother and sister, before heading off for the Island aboard Han's private junk ship.
Also aboard are several other competitors. They include Roper (John Saxon), a white American playboy-gambler on the run from the mob, to whom he is heavily in debt; and Williams (Jim Kelly), a black American activist on the run from the law after defending himself against two racist white policemen in Los Angeles. War buddies from Vietnam, Roper and Williams are slightly distrustful of the others. Roper gets to know Lee as they bet over a praying mantis fight being held on the deck of the boat, and later at the banquet hosted by Han on the island. At the banquet, Lee recognizes Mei Ling among Han's women. Later, as Tania (Han's beautiful and sexy hostess-in-charge) offers prostitutes to the fighters, Lee uses this as cover to establish contact with Mei Ling. Williams chooses five of the eight girls he is offered, and Roper chooses Tania herself, with whom he establishes something of a romantic relationship.
The tournament begins the next morning, with Williams and Roper easily winning their respective matches — and making some money out of it as well. Later that night, Lee, with equipment supplied by Mei Ling, begins searching the island for anything incriminating. Just as he finds a concealed entrance to an underground base, he is discovered by Han's guards. He disables them before they see his face, then returns to his room. On the way back, he is seen by Williams, who is exercising outside, despite it being forbidden to leave the palace at night. Williams, in turn, is seen by a guard.
The next morning, Han informs everyone that someone was seen outside the palace, but the most important thing is that his guards "performed their duties incompetently". He orders those involved to fight his head guard, Bolo (Bolo Yeung). Bolo sadistically murders the guards. Moments later, Lee is called to his first match, and finds he is fighting Oharra. Lee proves more than a match for Oharra, even when an increasingly enraged Oharra fights dishonourably. Having convincingly defeated Oharra, Lee attempts to walk away, but, unwilling to accept defeat, Oharra finally attacks Lee with a pair of broken bottles, forcing Lee to disarm and kill him. Han, disgraced by Oharra's tactics, ends the tournament for the remainder of the day and quietly summons Williams to his study. There, Han accuses Williams of assaulting his guards the previous night. Williams denies this and insults Han. Infuriated, Han murders Williams.
Han later takes Roper on a tour of his underground work area, showing him his drug manufacturing area, the women he forces into prostitution through drug dependency, and the slave labour he employs through captured homeless men. Han invites Roper to join him as his representative in the United States. Roper asks why Han has revealed so much without any guarantee of Roper's cooperation. Han then shows him Williams' mutilated corpse, making it clear that Roper will be killed if he does not cooperate. That night, Lee returns to the underground base and successfully infiltrates it, discovering enough evidence to secure Han's arrest. Lee finds a radio transmitter, which he uses to contact Braithwaite and call for backup. However, he is captured while attempting to escape.
The next morning on the tournament grounds, Roper is asked to fight Lee as a test of loyalty to Han. Roper refuses, and Han reassigns him to fight Bolo. Although Lee steps forward, volunteering to fight Bolo for Roper, Roper refuses and fights Bolo himself (as both a way to send a message to Han that he cannot be bullied, as well as a way to avenge Williams against Han.) Despite appearing outmatched, Roper is eventually victorious. Han, infuriated at Roper's victory, orders all of his guards to kill Lee and Roper by retaliation. The two are hopelessly outnumbered, but they manage to hold their own until the arrival of the slave labourers, who have been freed by Mei Ling. The slave labourers join the battle against Han's guards, evening the odds. Lee pursues Han, entering into an extended duel that leads to a hall of mirrors. Remembering the philosophy taught by his sifu, Lee outsmarts and finally kills Han by kicking him onto the point of a spear.
Returning outside, Lee finds that Roper and the slave workers have defeated Han's remaining guards. However, Tania has been killed in the fight. Lee and Roper exchange a weary thumbs-up as army helicopters arrive in response to Lee's radio distress call. Lee gave one last look at Han's bear claw which was stuck at the small table.

5. Game Of Death (1978):

Original plot

The original plot involved Lee playing the role of a retired champion martial artist who was confronted by the Korean underworld gangs. They tell him the story of the pagoda's treasure and guns are prohibited. When Lee refuses, his younger sister and brother are kidnapped, forcing him to participate. Hai Tien (Bruce Lee's character), as well as four other martial artists (two of which were played by James Tien and Chieh Yuan), fight their way through a five-level pagoda, encountering a different challenge on each floor. The setting of the pagoda was at Beopjusa temple in Songnisan National Park in South Korea.
The pagoda, called Palsang-jon, is the only remaining wooden pagoda in South Korea. At the base of the pagoda they fight 10 people all black belts in martial arts, while inside the pagoda, they encounter a different opponent on each floor, each more challenging than the last. Although his allies try to help out, they are handily defeated, and Lee must face each of the martial artists in one-on-one combat. He defeats Filipino martial arts master Dan Inosanto, hapkido master Ji Han Jae, and finally Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who fights with a free and fluid style mirroring Lee's Jeet Kune Do. Because Kareem's character has great size and strength in addition to a fighting style as potent as Lee's, he can only be defeated once Lee recognizes his one weakness-an unusual sensitivity to light. Lee smashes the surrounding windows, weakening him with exposure to daylight, and finally manages to kill him.

Original production

Although the pagoda was supposed to have five floors, complete scenes were only shot for three of the floors-the "Palace of the Tiger," where Lee faced Inosanto, the "Palace of the Dragon", where he fought Ji Han Jae, and the final floor, where he fought Abdul-Jabbar. Hapkido master Ing-Sik Whang was slated to play the guardian of the first floor, a master of a kick-oriented style, while Bruce's longtime student and good friend Taky Kimura was asked to play the guardian of the second floor, a stylist of praying mantis kung fu.
The goal of the film's plot was to showcase Lee's beliefs regarding the principles of martial arts. As each martial artist is defeated (including Lee's allies), the flaws in their fighting style are revealed. Some, like Dan Inosanto's character, rely too much on fixed patterns of offensive and defensive techniques, while others lack economy of motion. Lee defeats his opponents by having a fighting style that involves fluid movement, unpredictability, and an eclectic blend of techniques. His dialogue often includes references on their weaknesses.

Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey

Several years later, Bruce Lee historian John Little released Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey, a documentary revealing the original footage and storyline of The Game of Death. The documentary also includes a fairly in-depth biography of Lee and leads into the filming of The Game of Death. Fans still believe there is more footage to be found. Originally meant to be a documentary in its own right, now it can be found on the second disc of the 2004 Special Edition DVD release of Enter the Dragon, along with the documentary Bruce Lee: Curse of the Dragon.

Bruce Lee in G.O.D.: Shibōteki Yūgi

In 2000, the Japanese film Bruce Lee in G.O.D. was released on DVD. This film shows Lee's original vision from the film through the existing footage that was shot for the film before he died, interviews, and historical reenactments of what went on behind the scenes. A "special edition" DVD was released in 2003.

6. Game Of Death II (1981):

Plot synopsis

Billy Lo returns to discover the truth behind the death of his friend Chin Ku (Wong Ching Lei). Though it is said that he died of illness, many suspect foul play- and these suspicions prove to be true after a gang attempts to steal Ku's coffin. When Billy proceeds to investigate, he is murdered. When Bobby Lo (Tong Lung), Billy's younger brother, hears of the happenings he decides to investigate and leaves his Buddhist teacher. Soon, he arrives to the Castle of Death where he gains an unlikely friendship with a cruel and merciless Martial Arts expert by the name of Lewis (Roy Horan). Unbeknown to Bobby, his new friend is also the tower's master. Soon, the master is brutally murdered leaving Bobby to face danger in The Tower of Death.

Deleted scene

There's a scene in the chinese version of Game of Death action directed by Sammo Hung intended for his asian audience. Because the action standards are higher in Asia, he would replace the action scene in the opera house for the glasshouse at night with Casanova Wong in his karate clothes. The fight scene has the Bruce Lee look alike between Kim Tai Chung and Yuen Biao for the flips. For the international version for this movie, it has been dubbed into English referring to this movie that is added to this original version. This deleted scene can be seen in both movies available on DVD as a special feature in Hong Kong Legends

By Richard Moody

Richard Moody's Last Childhood DVD's

1. Casino Royale (1967): Opening sequence
The film's opening sequence is a deliberate ironic take on the dramatic opening sequences in the EON Bond films. Evelyn Tremble and Inspector Mathis meet in a pissoir, where Mathis presents his credentials, setting the satirical tone of the film.
Plot summary
The movie opens at the country estate of Sir James Bond 007 (David Niven), a legendary British spy who retired from the secret service 50 years ago in 1917. He is visited by the head of British MI6, M (John Huston), CIA representative Ransome (William Holden), KGB representative Smernov (Kurt Kasznar), and Deuxième Bureau representative Le Grand (Charles Boyer). Each in turn implores Bond to come out of retirement: A sinister organization known as SMERSH has been eliminating various agents around the world. Bond implacably spurns all their pleas. M then explains to his fellow representatives the reason for Bond's retirement: the love of his life, Mata Hari, the famous exotic dancer and spy, whom it had been his sworn duty to lure to her death. When Bond continues to stand firm, his mansion is destroyed by a mortar attack, apparently at the orders of M, who is however killed in the explosion.
Bond travels to Scotland to return M's remains to the grieving widow, Lady Fiona McTarry (Deborah Kerr), who has been secretly replaced by SMERSH agent Mimi. The rest of the household has likewise been replaced by beautiful female agents posing as McTarry's daughters. The aim of SMERSH is to discredit Bond by destroying his "celibate image". However, Mimi/Lady Fiona becomes so impressed with Bond that she changes loyalties and helps Bond to foil the plot against him. On his way back to London, Bond survives another attempt on his life by eluding a remote controlled milk float full of explosives.
David Niven as Bond and Barbara Bouchet as Miss Moneypenny
Sir James Bond is now promoted to the head of MI6. Among his first decisions, he orders that all remaining MI6 agents will be named "James Bond 007", as a ruse to confuse SMERSH. He also hatches a plan to train an irresistible male agent to resist the charms of opposing female agents. His secretary, Miss Moneypenny (Barbara Bouchet), recruits "Coop" (Terence Cooper), a karate expert who begins training to resist seductive women. While training, Coop meets the new "secret weapon", an exotic agent known as the Detainer (Daliah Lavi).
Sir James then hires Vesper Lynd (Ursula Andress), a retired secret agent turned millionnaire, to recruit baccarat player Evelyn Tremble (Peter Sellers), whom he intends to use to turn SMERSH agent Le Chiffre (Orson Welles). Having embezzled SMERSH's money, Le Chiffre is desperate for money to cover up his theft before he is executed.
Following up a clue from agent Mimi, Sir James persuades his estranged daughter Mata Bond (Joanna Pettet) to travel to East Berlin to infiltrate International Mothers' Help, a secret school for spies that is actually a SMERSH cover operation. Mata uncovers a plan to sell compromising photographs of military leaders from the United States, USSR, China and Great Britain at an "art auction", another scheme Le Chiffre hopes to use to raise the money he needs. Mata sabotages the auction and destroys the photographs. Le Chiffre's only remaining option is to raise the money by playing baccarat against Evelyn Tremble at the Casino Royale.
Tremble arrives at the Casino Royale accompanied by Vesper, who foils an attempt to disable him by SMERSH agent Miss Goodthighs (Jacqueline Bisset). Later that night, Evelyn observes Le Chiffre playing at the casino and realizes that he is using trick sunglasses to cheat. Vesper steals the trick sunglasses, allowing Evelyn to beat Le Chiffre. Le Chiffre then kidnaps Vesper and then captures Tremble while he chases the kidnappers. Le Chiffre then tortures Tremble in a hallucinogenic torture sequence, at the end of which Vesper apparently rescues Tremble but then kills him. Meanwhile, Le Chiffre is killed by SMERSH agents for betraying them.
While sightseeing in London, Mata Bond is kidnapped by SMERSH in a giant flying saucer, and Sir James travels with Moneypenny to Casino Royale to rescue her. They discover that the casino is located atop a giant underground base run by the evil Dr. Noah, who turns out to be Sir James's weak-kneed nephew Jimmy Bond (Woody Allen). Dr. Noah/Jimmy reveals that he plans to kill all men over 4-foot-6-inch (1.4 m) tall, leaving the diminutive villain as the "big man" who gets all the girls. However, The Detainer foils his plan by poisoning him with one of his own atomic pills.
In a huge and disorganized finale, the casino is overrun by secret agents, including a French Legionnaire (Jean-Paul Belmondo), stereotypical movie cowboys and Indians, George Raft, and Ransome. Eventually, Jimmy's atomic pill explodes, destroying Casino Royale along with practically all the characters.

2. Michael Jackson – Moonwalker (1988): The music video to Jackson's song "Man in the Mirror" acts as the opening segment to the film. This short film features a montage of clips of children from Africa, Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and other historical figures.
Retrospective
A short biographical film about Jackson, covering the years from his birth until the Bad tour short parts of the following songs are played:
• "Music and Me"
• "I Want You Back"
• "ABC"
• "The Love You Save"
• "Who's Lovin' You"
• "Ben"
• "Dancing Machine"
• "Blame It on the Boogie"
• "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)"
• "Rock with You"
• "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough"
• "Can You Feel It"
• "Human Nature"
• "Beat It"
• "Thriller"
• "Billie Jean"
• "State of Shock"
• "We Are the World"
• "The Way You Make Me Feel"
• "Dirty Diana"
Badder
A parody of the music video for Bad's title song, featuring children filling the roles of various people from the original clip
Of note, this video features a young Nikki Cox, who would eventually star on Unhappily Ever After and Las Vegas. The singing group The Boys appear as background dancers. The video also features Jermaine Jackson, Jr., and Brandon Quintin Adams of Mighty Ducks fame.
Speed Demon
The "Badder" clip transitions into a second short film, referred to as Speed Demon, directed by Claymation innovator Will Vinton. This acts as the music video to the song Speed Demon. In the film, Michael, in an attempt to avoid overzealous fans (even The Noid), disguises himself as a rabbit (named Spike), but ends up taunting the fans into chasing him. During the chase, he morphs into other celebrities, including Sylvester Stallone, Tina Turner, and Pee-Wee Herman. After finally losing the fans, he removes the costume, which comes to life and challenges him to a dance-off. In the end, a policeman tells him he is in a "No Moonwalking Zone", then sarcastically asks for his autograph (as opposed to "signature") on the ticket. Just as Michael is preparing to leave, the rocky crag in front of him morphs into Spike's head who then nods to him, leaving Michael one-upped by his own alter-ego. (But he seems happy enough as he leaves.)
Leave Me Alone
The fifth segment of the film is the short film for the song "Leave Me Alone", and features an animated music video focusing on media interest in Jackson's personal life, because he had felt that the tabloid, media, press, paparazzi, etc. wouldn't leave him alone. He feels that no matter what he does to prove his innocence, they will not leave him alone. The video for the song won a Grammy in 1989 for Breakthrough, animated video, the only Grammy Award received for the album, Bad.
Smooth Criminal
Jackson plays a benevolent gangster who uses his powers as a crime figure to protect the children of an unnamed big city. The film opens with a framing sequence depicting a scene linked to events occurring near the end of the film, in which a group of children (including Sean Lennon) watch as Jackson exits a club and is attacked by mobsters with machine guns. The film then backtracks to Jackson playing in a field with the children and their dog. The dog runs away, and in their search for it, Jackson and the children uncover the lair of Mr. Big, Frankie Lideo (Joe Pesci, as a parody to Michael Jackson's own manager, Frank DiLeo), a drug dealing mobster with an army of henchmen who wants to get the entire populace of planet earth addicted to drugs, starting with the children. Mr. Big discovers Jackson and the children, but they escape; Jackson tells the children to meet him at Club 30's, which turns out to be a haunted nightclub abandoned since the 1930s. The story goes back to the mobsters attack on Jackson, and here it is revealed that Jackson is actually a magical gangster, who draws his power from shooting stars. As one passes by the club, Jackson transforms into a sportscar and mows down several of Mr. Big's henchmen. The story picks up on the children at Club 30's, and at first the children are afraid, but when Jackson appears the scary atmosphere of the club transforms and the children find themselves back in the 1930s. The club is now filled with zoot suiters and swing dancers. Jackson participates in a dance-off with the other club members, which serves as the music video for "Smooth Criminal". The version of the song used in this segment is different from the album version — there are several new lyrics and the song is much longer overall, including symphonic material by Bruce Broughton. The extra lyrics are to make the story of the song clearer. The more commonly seen music video form is a four-minute collage of various clips from the movie.
At the climax of the song, Mr. Big lays siege to the club and kidnaps one of the children, Katie. Jackson follows them back to Big's lair and ends up surrounded by his henchmen. Mr. Big appears and mentally tortures Jackson by threatening to inject Katie with highly addictive narcotics. While Katie manages to wriggle free from being injected, Mr. Big decides he's had enough and orders his men to kill Katie before finishing off Jackson, but not before a shooting star flies by. Jackson transforms into a giant robot and kills all of Mr. Big's soldiers. After Jackson turns into a giant spaceship, Mr. Big gets into a large hillside mounted energy cannon, firing on the spaceship into a nearby ravine. The children are his next target, but the spaceship returns from the ravine just in time to fire a beam in the cannon with Mr. Big inside and saving the children from destruction.
The sports car featured in this segment (as a morphed Michael Jackson) is the 1970 prototype Lancia Stratos 0. The automobile now resides in the private show room of the Bertone stile center at Caprie (in Susa Valley).
Come Together
The film closes with Jackson performing a cover of the Beatles' song "Come Together". One of the child actors in this movie is Sean Lennon, son of the late Beatles member John Lennon. Released as the B-Side to "Remember the Time" in January 1992 and a slightly different version appeared on the 1995 release of the HIStory album, on disc 2. This song was originally supposed to be on the "Days of Thunder" soundtrack.
Closing credits
During the closing credits, two more segments are shown. The first has Ladysmith Black Mambazo performing "The Moon is Walking" in Club 30's amidst behind-the-scenes clips. The second is the four-minute version of the "Smooth Criminal" music video.

3. Monsters Vs Aliens 3D – Movie (2009): Deep in space, a planet explodes. From the debris, a glowing meteor is sent flying towards Earth. The meteor is spotted by two inexperienced UFO trackers, who pinpoint its point of impact in Modesto, California.
Meanwhile, Susan Murphy (Reese Witherspoon), a Modesto native, is preparing for her wedding to local weatherman, Derek Dietl (Paul Rudd). Just outside the church, she's struck by the glowing meteor. As a result, she grows to 49 ft 11 in tall, is labeled a monster and is captured by the military. She is confined to a military facility (most likely Area 51), commanded by General W.R. Monger, (Kiefer Sutherland) that houses other monsters: Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D., an insect-headed mad scientist (Hugh Laurie); the Missing Link, a 20,000-year-old fish-man (Will Arnett); B.O.B., a gelatinous, jolly, indestructible monster (Seth Rogen); and Insectosaurus, a fuzzy bug that stands 350 feet tall, dwarfing even Susan. As she is returned to her cell, the General tells Susan that she cannot make any sort of contact will the outside world, not even her family, friends or fiance, and that her new "monster name" is Ginormica. Susan feels alone and scared.
Meanwhile, an alien overlord named Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson) detects the meteor's energy and sends a robotic probe to retrieve it on Earth. When the object lands the U.S military try to communicate with it by using a keyboard similar to another science fiction movie with aliens. The president decides to improvise and instead plays Axel F from Beverly Hills Cop. The monster then scans the president with its eye and begins to, destructively, make its way to a populated area, conventional weapons prove useless against it. In response, General W.R. Monger suggests to President Hathaway (Stephen Colbert) that the monsters can provide the power to defeat the aliens.
The President agrees to Monger's proposal and has the monsters deployed near San Francisco where the robot is headed to with the promise of granting them their liberty for taking this mission. Despite their best efforts, the monsters are unable to stop the probe from entering the city in its pursuit of Susan, whom is imbued with the energy it is seeking. As Susan attempts to flee the creature by crossing the Golden Gate Bridge with the rest of the evacuees, she realizes that she has inadvertently drawn the robot there and endangered the citizenry on it. While Susan desperately grapples with the attacking robot with Insectosaurus's help, her new compatriots assist in clearing the bridge while Dr. Cockroach enters the robot to attempt to disable it from within. With considerable difficulty, they manage to defeat the robot, albeit destroying the bridge to do it.
At that victory, an invigorated Susan is allowed back to her hometown to reunite with Derek and introduces her new friends to her parents. While the monsters innocently cause a panicked ruckus at her parents' home, Susan makes her way to Derek's workplace only to find that he has rejected her. Utterly heartbroken, Susan leaves to mope even as her monster friends reunite with her after their own social fiasco. As they converse about her realization that her ex-fiancee's worthlessness and the value of her new friends, Gallaxhar's ship arrives and Susan is abducted, apparently killing Insectosaurus when he tries to resist the attempt.
On the ship, Susan manages to break her bonds and chases Gallaxhar through his ship until he traps her in a special machine that drains the meteor's energy from her body, returning her to normal size. With that energy, Gallaxhar creates a massive clone army and threatens to conquer Earth while exterminating its population. Meanwhile, the remaining monsters pledge to raid the ship to rescue Susan and avenge the death of Insectosaurus.
Once there, the trio disguise themselves as clone troopers and reunite with Susan as she is taken to be killed. However, they are discovered and they barely hold off the army as they escape to the ship's power source. Once there, Dr. Cockroach accesses its control system and initiates a self destruct sequence which unfortunately includes sealing off sections of the ship. While Susan is able to escape, her compatriots are trapped and apparently doomed. Although they insist she escape the ship, Susan decides to confront Gallaxhar and force him to free her friends. When he admits he cannot while he is making his own escape with the meteor energy, Susan shoots the energy's container and allows it to fall on herself.
With the subsequent energy exposure restoring her gigantic size, Susan forces her way back to the sealed section of the ship where her compatriots are trapped. However, while they escape the ship, they are still too high in the sky to drop down and survive the fall. Fortunately, the problem is solved with the arrival of Insectosaurus, who has just emerged from his actual state of chrysalis in a new winged form under Gen. Monger's command and he retrieves the squad and flies them to safety as the ship explodes.
Back at Susan's hometown, the monsters are given a hero's welcome including Derek who wants to reconcile for the sake of an exclusive interview with her that would help his career. Insulted at this craven opportunism, Susan violently rejects and humiliates him on camera, declaring her real place with her new monster friends.
At that moment, the team is alerted of a new alien menace in Paris, France and the eager Monsters make their way to Europe on Insectosaurus to deal with the emergency.

Richard Moody’s Comments: one for my childhood movie collection is “Monster Vs Aliens” but it is not out on DVD as yet. This is one that I will buy for my collection in the future. I really enjoyed the movie as it was one of the best this year so far.


By Richard Moody


1. Batman (1966): When Batman (West) and Robin (Ward) get a tip that Commodore Schmidlapp (the final role of actor Reginald Denny) is in danger aboard his yacht, they launch a rescue mission using the Batcopter. After a tangle with an exploding shark, Batman and Robin head back to Commissioner Gordon's office where, through deduction and wisdom, they figure out that the tip was a set-up by four of the most powerful villains ever (Joker, Penguin, Riddler and Catwoman), who have united to defeat The Dynamic Duo once and for all.
Armed with a dehydrator that can turn humans into dust, a World War II Unterseeboot made to resemble a penguin, and their three pirate henchmen (Bluebeard, Morgan and Quetch), the "fearsome foursome" intends to take over the world, and Batman and Robin must stop them. Catwoman romantically lures Bruce Wayne into a trap, little suspecting that Wayne is Batman's alter-ego, and Penguin even schemes his way into the Batcave, leaving the Duo unable to prevent the kidnapping of the dehydrated United World Security Council.
After giving chase in the Batboat, the Caped Crusader and Boy Wonder use a sonic charge weapon called "Bat-Charges" to disable Penguin's submarine and bring it to the surface, where a grand fistfight ensues. Although Commodore Schmidlapp sneezes on and scatters the powdered members of the dehydrated Council, mixing them together – which would normally spell their doom – Batman constructs an elaborate filter to return each of them to life.
Prior to this process, Robin asks Batman if it might not be in the world's best interests, with continued problems of overt racism, especially in the U.S. during the 1960s, for them to alter the dust samples so that humans can no longer harm one another. In response, Batman says that they cannot do so and can only hope for people, in general, to learn to live together peacefully on their own.
However, in the final scene, Robin's wishes are ironically fulfilled when the Security Council is improperly re-hydrated. While all of the members are alive and well, continuing to squabble among themselves and totally oblivious of their surroundings, each of them now speaks a completely different language than their original native tongue. As the world looks on in disbelief at this development, Batman and Robin quietly climb out of the United World Headquarters to an uncertain future. Batman's final words express his sincere hope that this "mixing of minds" does more good than it does harm.

By Richard Moody & James Ross

The Best Of Got Talent Series

Britain’s Got Talent: Britain's Got Talent is a British television show on ITV (also on TV3 in Ireland), and part of the Got Talent series. Presented by Ant & Dec, it is a search for Britain's next best talent act, featuring singers, dancers, comedians, variety acts, and other talents of all ages. Anyone who believed they have talent was encouraged to audition. The winner of both series received £100,000 and are given the opportunity to perform at the Royal Variety Performance in front of members of the Royal Family.
The live finals are broadcast from Fountain Studios in Wembley, which is the same studio as Britain's Got Talent's sister show, The X Factor.
The show's secondary theme song is "Lux Aeterna" (originally from the movie Requiem for a Dream), which is used to create tension.
The first series of the talent show premiered on 9 June 2007, and was broadcast daily with a live final on 17 June 2007, revealing Paul Potts as the first winner. The second series began on 12 April 2008. The final was aired on May 31, 2008, and was won by George Sampson. The third series will begin on 11 April 2009.

Series One: Series one of Britain's Got Talent began on 9 June 2007 and ended on 17 June 2007. The first 5 shows concerned the Audition Stages and the final three shows involved the live Semi-Finals and Final. The series was eventually won by opera singer Paul Potts, with ventriloquist Damon Scott coming in second.
The series was intended to air before America's Got Talent but was thoroughly postponed, and was also intentially meant to be host by Paul O'Grady although he resigned shortly after his transfer from ITV to Channel 4. Ant and Dec were later decided as replacement hosts. David Hasselhoff and Cheryl Cole were lined up as judges, but resigned before the program was meant to broadcast, meaning Amanda Holden was brought in as a replacement.

The winner of Britain’s Got Talent 2007 was “Paul Potts”.

Series Two: The 2008 series of Britain's Got Talent was the second series of the show. Notable differences from the 2007 series the included the fact that the auditions visited Scotland and that there were 40 in the live semi-finals. The series also ran for longer, this time airing seven weeks instead of one.
Ant and Dec returned as hosts with Stephen Mulhern coming back to present Britain's Got More Talent. Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan returned as judges.
The first 7 shows were auditions that went to London, Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff and for the first time Blackpool and Glasgow. They were shown from the 12 April to the 24 May. The next 7 Shows were the live semi-finals, the live final and the live final results show. They were shown from the 26 May to the 31 May

The winner of Britain’s Got Talent 2008 was “George Sampson”

America’s Got Talent: America's Got Talent is an American reality television series on the NBC television network. It is a "talent" show that features singers, dancers, magicians, comedians and other performers of all ages competing for the advertised top prize of US$1 million. The show debuted in June 2006 for the summer television season. Starting in the third season, the Talent top prize included US$1 million, payable in a financial annuity over forty years (or the present cash value of such annuity), and a show as the headliner on the Las Vegas Strip.
The show concept can be traced back to the British talent contest Opportunity Knocks, which started as a radio program in 1949 before moving to television in 1956. Among its significant features were that it gave an opportunity to talented amateurs or unknown performers, with the results decided by a public vote.[1] The format was created by Simon Cowell, and was originally due to be a 2005 British series called Paul O'Grady's Got Talent but was postponed due to O'Grady's acrimonious split with broadcaster ITV. As such, the American version became the first full series of the Got Talent franchise, and its on-screen presentation bears a close resemblance to Cowell's British talent show Britain's Got Talent.
Despite being heavily involved in the show's production Simon Cowell does not appear as a judge. This is due to the conditions of his American Idol contract, however he does appear as a judge on Britain's Got Talent. America's Got Talent began airing season one in the United Kingdom on ITV2 on 22 June 2007, TV3 Ireland on July 2007 and in New Zealand on Prime Television on 9 July 2007. The third season premiered on 17 June 2008.

Series One: in June 2006, NBC announced the new show. The audition tour took place in June. Auditions were held in the following locations: Los Angeles, California, New York City, New York, Chicago, Illinois, and Atlanta, Georgia. Some early ads for the show implied that the winning act would also headline a show at a casino, possibly in Las Vegas; however, this was replaced with $1,000,000 due to concerns of minors playing in Las Vegas, should one become a champion. More than 12 million viewers watched the season premiere (which is more than American Idol got during its premiere back in 2002). The two-hour broadcast was the night's most-watched program on U.S. television and the highest-rated among viewers aged 18 to 49 (the prime-time audience that matters most to advertisers), Nielsen Media Research reported. On the season finale, there was an unaired segment that was scheduled to appear after Aly and AJ. The segment featured Tom Green dressing in a parrot costume, and squawking with a live parrot, to communicate telepathically. Green then proceeded to fly up above the audience, shooting confetti streamers out of his costume onto the crowd below.
In season one, the show was hosted by Regis Philbin and judged by actor David Hasselhoff, singer Brandy, and journalist Piers Morgan.

The Winner of America’s Got Talent 2006 was “Bianca Ryan”.

Series Two: After initially announcing in May 2006 that the second season of America's Got Talent would debut in January 2007 at 8 PM on Sunday nights, with no separate results show, the network has changed its mind and pushed the show back to the summer, where the first season had great success. This move will keep the show out of direct competition with American Idol, which has a similar premise and is more popular. In AGT's place, another reality-based talent show, Grease: You're The One That I Want, began airing on Sunday nights in the same timeslot on NBC beginning in January.[4] In March 2007, NBC announced thar Philbin would not return as host of the show, and that Jerry Springer would succeed him as host,[5] with Sharon Osbourne (formerly a judge on Cowell's UK show The X Factor) succeeding Brandy as a judge. This means the show, ironically, has two British judges and one American one.
The second season has no results show, replaced by results on the performance show night instead; in addition, each Tuesday broadcast was repeated (along with The Singing Bee episode that followed the 90-minute editions of AGT) by NBC the following Saturday.
The finale of the season was shown Tuesday, August 21, 2007, and the results are shown below:

The winner of America’s Got Talent 2007 was “Terry Fator”.

Series Three: NBC announced in August 2007 that the network had renewed the show for a third season. Auditions took place in Charlotte, Nashville, Orlando, New York, Dallas, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Chicago from January to April. A televised MySpace audition also took place. Sharon Osbourne, Piers Morgan and David Hasselhoff returned as judges. Jerry Springer also returned as host. The show premiered on June 17, 2008. It will also be shown in the United Kingdom on ITV2.
Unlike Season 2, Talent became a substantially larger reality competition in Season 3, with seven weeks of auditions, compared to the four weeks of auditions in the previous seasons. Also, the auditions are held in well-known theaters across the nation, unlike last year. A substantial change is the new title card, which features the American flag as background. The X's match the ones on Britain's Got Talent, or they have been borrowed for this season. Like last season, the Las Vegas callbacks continue, but there will be forty acts selected to compete in the live rounds, instead of twenty. Another difference from the previous season includes that now there are separate results episodes.
The show took a hiatus for two and a half weeks for the 2008 Summer Olympics, but returned with the live rounds August 26, 2008.

The winner of America’s Got Talent 2008 was “Neal E. Boyd.”

Australia’s Got Talent: Australia's Got Talent is an Australian reality television show which premiered on February 18, 2007 on the Seven Network. The show is based on the Got Talent series format that originated with America's Got Talent and Britain's Got Talent. It is hosted by Grant Denyer, with Dannii Minogue, Tom Burlinson and Red Symons acting as judges.
The first season aired at 6:30pm on Sunday nights. After a successful run, the series was given a vote of confidence as Seven moved the show to a more competitive Tuesday night timeslot. The second season aired from April 29, 2008. A third season, now airing on Wednesday nights, began on February 4, 2009.

The Winner of Australia’s Got Talent 2007 was “Bonnie Anderson”

The Winner of Australia’s Got Talent 2008 was “Smokin Joe Robinson”

By Richard Moody

This was written in December 24th 2008.

Richard Moody's Favourite Singing Competition Shows

1. Canadian Idol: is a Canadian reality television competition show airing on CTV. The show is based on the popular Fox show American Idol, which in turn is based on the British show Pop Idol. The show is a competition to find the most talented young singer in Canada. It is hosted by Ben Mulroney. Jon Dore was the "roving reporter" for the first three seasons (appearing in comedy skits throughout the show). Elena Juatco assumed the role for season four, Dave Kerr had the role in season five and Jully Black in season six.
The show begins with a cross-Canada tour in which singers audition in front of four judges: Jake Gold, Sass Jordan of Montreal, Quebec, Zack Werner of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Farley Flex of Ajax, Ontario. Eventually the performers are narrowed down to 10 finalists (11 in season one due to a near-tie), with each competitor performing live. Viewers have two hours following the broadcast of the show to phone in their votes for their favourite competitor. On the following night's episode (live again), the competitor with the fewest votes is sent home. After the final two perform, viewers have more than two hours to vote. The next day (five days later in season 4; two days later in season 6), the competitor with the most votes is declared the winner. The show is taped at the John Bassett Theatre in Toronto, Ontario.
In December 2008, CTV announced that Canadian Idol would be "suspended", not airing in the 2009 season due to "the current economic climate", but promising it would return in 2010. Following the announcement, Joel Rubinoff, television critic for the Waterloo Region Record, strongly criticised the show's direction, declaring that it had "bottomed out creatively in every possible way" and "outlived its usefulness".

2. American Idol: is an American singing competition airing on FOX. It debuted on June 11, 2002, and has since become one of the most popular shows on American television. Part of the Idol franchise, it is a spinoff from the reality program Pop Idol, which was created by British entertainment executive Simon Fuller and first aired in 2001 in the United Kingdom.
The program seeks to discover the best singer in the country through a series of nationwide auditions. The American public decides the outcomes of the later stages through phone voting. The judges give critiques of the contestants' performances: Grammy award-winning record producer and music manager Randy Jackson; Grammy award-winning pop singer and Emmy award-winning choreographer Paula Abdul; music executive and music manager Simon Cowell; and Grammy award-nominated singer-songwriter and record producer Kara DioGuardi. The format originally featured three judges, with Kara DioGuardi added in the eighth season.
The show is hosted by television personality Ryan Seacrest. Comedian Brian Dunkleman co-hosted with Seacrest during the first season. The American Idol band is led by Rickey Minor.
The show usually airs on Tuesday and Wednesday nights in the United States and Canada, Wednesday and Thursday nights in Australia & Asia, Thursday and Friday nights in the United Kingdom and Friday and Saturday nights in Israel.

3. Australian Idol: is a Logie Award-winning Australian singing competition, which began its first season on 27 July 2003. Part of the Idol franchise, it originated from the reality program Pop Idol created by British entertainment executive Simon Fuller. Australian Idol is televised on Channel 10, and the Austereo Radio Network.
The program seeks to discover the most commercial young singer in the country through a series of nationwide auditions. The outcomes of the later stages of this competition are determined by public voting by phone. The format features three judges who give critiques of the contestants' performances in order to facilitate the voting: former record executive Ian Dickson; singer Marcia Hines; and radio presenter Kyle Sandilands. The show is hosted by Andrew G, James Mathison and former contestant Ricki-Lee Coulter as a backstage presenter. The show airs on Sunday and Monday nights in Australia.

By Richard Moody