About Niall

The proverbial man lost in La Mancha. Sports aficionado and all-round scoundrel. Über-geek to boot. I run the movie website Scannain.com and can usually be found twittering away as @niallxmurphy.

Back to you Clive - Keith Floyd RIP

Yesterday witnessed the death of another great fore-bearer of modern popular culture in the guise of one Mr. Keith Floyd. While I don’t want to become the obituary guy I do deem his passing as a great loss. Floyd was the pioneer for the modern TV chef with his flamboyant presenting style, interplay with his crew and off-site, out of the kitchen, locations. An avid rugby fan and player in his youth Floyd turned his back on a career in the Army to pursue a career in cookery. He had limited success with his own restaurants until a fateful meeting with David Pritchard, a producer with BBC Plymouth with whom Floyd developed the style of cookery programme that would make him famous. Between 1985 and 2000 Floyd produced 19 series for the BBC and Channel 5 from every corner of the globe, and wrote more than 20 cookbooks to … There’s more

Patrick Swayze Tribute - Top 5 Movie Roles

Like Darren earlier I was saddened this morning to learn of the the passing of screen icon Patrick Swayze at age 57. Swayze was diagnosed in 2007 with aggressive pancreatic cancer which he defiantly fought for the past year and a half whilst continuing to film his TV show The Beast. Most people will probably know Swayze for his roles in the likes of ’80s classics Red Dawn, Dirty Dancing, Road House and 1990′s Ghost. By way of a tribute to his inherent and brilliant acting ability I’d like to share my Top 5 favourite Patrick Swayze Movie Roles. Jed - Red Dawn (1984)

Slim is in - Facebook goes Diet

Social networking goliath Facebook today rolled out a pared down version of its universally recognised site, called Facebook Lite. The site is designed to help the company expand into developing countries where slower internet speeds are common. The company has also launched it in the U.S. as a quicker alternative to the main site for users that want very basic functionality without any apps.

And you must be the Monopoly guy…

Toymaker Hasbro has launched an online massive multi-player version of its best-selling property game Monopoly, dubbed Monopoly City Streets. This free to play game uses Google Maps, or Open Street Map, as the actual playing board. New players will be given three million Monopoly dollars to begin building their virtual portfolio and theoretically every street in the world will be available for purchase. The goal of the game, like the real-life version, is to earn money on the streets and properties and become the richest property tycoon around. Once a player has taken control of a street, they will be able to charge rent and build new virtual properties. Streets may also be traded and sold with other players. Hasbro is introducing new chance cards, which will allow players to sabotage rival competitors by building rubbish dumps, prisons or wind farms on their property to reduce the rent value of … There’s more

Summer Loving, had me a blast…. Adventureland - Review

It’s the summer of 1987 and Ronald Reagan is slowly but surely destroying the economy of the United States of America. James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) is fresh college graduate whose summer plans, of bumming around Europe with his mates, fall apart when his father is unexpectedly demoted. This new economic reality forces James into getting a summer job so that he’ll be able to pay his rent for Columbia university in the autumn. Desperation leads him to take a job running games at a rather dishevelled amusement park. It is here that James encounters the pretty but emotionally confused Em (Kirsten Stewart) and befriends a rag-tag bunch of souls whose only goal is to escape the mediocrity as soon as possible.

Down by the bayou…

Back in July Niamh posted about Disney’s forthcoming traditional 2D animation film The Princess and the Frog. Today the latest trailer debuted online and such is my level of excitement I’ve decided to share it. One of the very first things John Lasseter did when appointed Chief Creative Officer at Disney following the Disney/Pixar merger was to reinstate the traditional 2D animation features and short division that made Disney studios so famous. The Princess and the Frog is the first of this new batch of 2D feature films. It is being directed by John Musker and Ron Clements. They’re the guys that gave us The Great Mouse Detective, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and Hercules, so they have a good track record. Randy Newman is also on hand to provide the musical numbers. The plot is centred in the bayou around New Orleans and sees a prince named Naveen from the … There’s more

I pity the fool…

It seems like Mr. T’s immortal boots are set to be filled as UFC fighter Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has been cast as Sgt. Bosco “B.A.” Baracus in the forthcoming remake of the classic 80’s series The A-Team. It would appear that acting talent was not high on must-have lists for director Joe Carnahan (Smokin’Aces) and producers Tony and Ridley Scott. The casting should however allow for some exceptional fight scenes and so long as B.A.’s wardrobe and non-sequiturs remain intact you’ll hear no complaints from me. The A-Team has so far cast three of the four main characters from the original series: Quinton Jackson as Sgt. Bosco “B.A.” Baracus (originally played by Mr. T), Bradley Cooper as Lt. Templeton “Faceman” Peck (Dirk Benedict) and Liam Neeson as Col. John “Hannibal” Smith (George Peppard). Only one remains with the role of Cpt. H.M. “Howling Mad” Murdock yet to be cast. What … There’s more

3D or not 3D, that is the question

The 3D invasion is in full swing with a whole host of forthcoming feature films being released in 3D and with 3D televisions set to land in homes from next year on. So is this the dawn of a glorious new era in entertainment or just another gimmick that will soon fade into obscurity? It is worth bearing in mind that 3D is nothing new. The “anaglyph process” (the one where you get those nifty looking red and green specs) was first used on images in 1853, with the first film Power of Love being released in 1922. This was followed by the “polarised 3D process” which allowed for a fuller range of colours and was easier to produce. The earliest polarised movie was released in 1936, but it wasn’t until the 1950s that they really took off. 1952 to 1955 is generally regarded as the Golden Age of 3D … There’s more

Anyone fancy a pint?

Living away from Ireland I miss certain things, none more so than my local pub. Reminsicing over the good times that I’ve spent hanging with my friends I started to wonder what if I could drink in any pub/bar , where would that be? When my daydreaming led, as it inevitably always does, to fictional pubs I realised that most of the best pubs that I’ve ever paid witness to have been on TV. So I decided to catalogue the Top 5 TV pubs. My first and only rule was that the establishment in question must serve alcohol, so goodbye Central Perk (Friends) Café Nervosa (Frasier), Java The Hut (Veronica Mars) and Café Diem (Eureka). After that all bets are off…

Spidermouse, Spidermouse…

So Disney is all set to buy Marvel for four billion dollars in cash and stock, but what does that mean for the future of these two entertainment goliaths? Both sides appear to be gushing over the future possibilities which of course means Marvel characters, and there are some 5,000 of them, should start popping up on Disney’s TV networks, movies and theme parks. But is it really that simple? Currently Paramount hold a 5 picture deal for Marvel intellectual property which includes Iron Man and the Avengers. Universal retains contractual rights over the Hulk. 20th Century Fox has the current movie rights for X-Men, with 3 movies in the pipeline X-Men Origins: Magneto, Deadpool and Wolverine 2. Oh, and Sony Pictures has the rights to a certain web-slinger. Getting out of these deals to give Disney exclusive ownership and distribution will prove nigh-on-impossible so it’ll be a few years … There’s more

Guest Post: Coming soon to a silver-screen near you

Check out this guest post from Niall (@sarxos). He glances back over the last eight months of movies and takes a look at what we can look forward to for the rest of 2009. - Darren 2009 is two-thirds of the way through and so far we’ve had some pretty amazing movies hit our screens, not least of which was last weeks epic, outlandish and affront to spelling, Inglourious Basterds from director, auteur and all-round cinephile Quentin Tarantino. But I’m not concerned with what went before, rather I’m intrigued by what the next 4 months have to offer. With that in mind a give you five movies to watch out for in the latter half of this year. I’m looking at one per month and a special fifth. First up is a definite must see for me, 9 from director Shane Acker and producers Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov. So … There’s more