Men Must Have

Fast Five, the fifth instalment in the ever-healthy action franchise, was the most pirated movie of 2011 on BitTorrent, according to the LA Times.

The film was apparently downloaded some 9.3 million times, though the average number of downloads of the top 10 movies was lower than the equivalent list last year.

While box-office behemoths occupy the top 3 places (The Hangover Part II and Thor sit in spots 2 & 3 respectively), the remainder of the list is quite different to the top-grossing films.

This year’s Twilight and Transformers films didn’t make the top 10 most popular downloads, while Source Code, I Am Number Four and Sucker Punch (none of which broke the top 50 in terms of US grosses) did.

It’s possibly most sad to see Source Code on the list – a smart, interesting, modestly budgeted sci-fi, the type of which we don’t see enough of in cinemas.

If those illegal downloads could be converted to purchased tickets, we’d have a better chance of this kind of film getting made more often, instead of the countless sequels, remakes and reboots we’re swamped with.

Here’s the full list of the 10 most pirated movies (and the number of times they were downloaded):

1. Fast Five: 9.3 million

2. The Hangover Part II: 8.8 million

3. Thor: 8.3 million

4. Source Code: 7.9 million

5. I Am Number Four: 7.7 million

6. Sucker Punch: 7.2 million

7. 127 Hours: 6.9 million

8. Rango: 6.5 million

9. The King’s Speech: 6.3 million

10. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2: 6 million

Arnold Schwarzenegger is taking his movie comeback seriously.

As well as The Expendables 2, Arnie is also filming Last Stand, and he’s currently prepping a role in Black Sunday (formerly announced as Black Sands).

While the film had previously been described as a western of sorts, with comparisons to Man On Fire and High Plains Drifter mentioned, Arnie has thrown a curveball by telling website TheArnoldFans (via The Playlist) that he’s playing an angel in the movie.

"I’m a kind of angel," he said, adding, "I can not currently say more about this film."

His comments have been taken literally rather than figuratively, with his avenging angel believed to be some sort of holy creature.

This brings back rather iffy memories of End Of Days, though if this gives Arnie the opportunity to spout more golden lines like "Between your faith and my Glock nine millimeter, I’ll take the Glock" and "You’re a fucking choir boy compared to me!" then this could be something of a guilty-pleasure watch.

The Expendables 2 opens on 17 August 2012, with Last Stand following on 18 January 2013.

A new trailer for The Avengers has landed online.

OK, so it’s in Russian, but there’s still plenty of superhero goodness to enjoy if you don’t mind a bit of Russian dubbing.

There’s not a whole lot of new footage, though eagle-eyed Avengers obsessives will spot a few little treats littered throughout.

Basically, if you’re as obsessed with seeing The Avengers as we are, this’ll provide a little relief ahead of the four-month wait until the film’s release.

Check it out below:

And, if you’re not averse to spoilers, read on…

Toy manufacturers have a way of spoiling big superhero movies, with figurines often revealing key characters before the movie marketing does (how many times are we going to see Spider-Man’s Lizard in toy-form before we get a glimpse of the real thing?)

Well, according to MovieWeb, the HeroClix line of Avengers toys may have given away another of the film’s big baddies.

According to a press release, Thor and Captain America will be battling Loki and… the Red Skull.

The scarlet-visaged Nazi evaporated at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger, so depending on where he ended up, it’s quite possible he could be coming back (did he get teleported to Asgard?)

Or, is it merely a ploy by the toy company to make it a more fairly matched fight between heroes and villains? Hugo Weaving has never officially been linked to The Avengers, so it’s all speculation at the moment.

The Avengers opens on 27 April 2012.

Start the new year with a good hearty laugh at this award-winning comedy club. Tonight’s celebratory bill includes Hal Cruttenden, Gordon Southern, Nick Revell and Markus Birdman. Follow up the laughs with a boogie on the…

The traditional and infamous stand-up show which drags you into the New Year kicking and screaming with MC Ben Norris, Jarred Christmas, Mike Gunn, Hal Cruttenden, Ian Stone, Rob Deering and Sean Collins.

Tonight this consistently brilliant club presents ‘No Rip-Off New Year’s Eve’. The very reasonably priced bill features always amusing Alistair Barrie, Lewis Schaffer, Otiz Cannelloni and MC Ivor Dembina.

Christmas might be over, but the Batman-related pressies just keep on coming, with Anne Hathaway breaking Chris Nolan’s traditional wall of silence in order to give us an update on what we can expect from The Dark Knight Rises.

“Gotham City is full of grace,” says Hathaway. “You look at Heath’s performance as the Joker, there was a lot of madness there but there was also a grace and he had a code there. There’s a lot of belief and codes of behavior in Gotham and my character has one, too. A lot of the way she moves and interacts with people is informed by her worldview. Chris has given us all such complex, defined, sophisticated worldviews that it’s just a matter of doing your homework and getting underneath the character’s skin.”

“I really got into the comics after I was cast,” she continues, “and I like that when she made her first appearance she meets Bruce Wayne and says ‘Let go of me or I’ll claw your eyes out,’ and he says, ‘Careful, claws in or papa spank’. So I’m glad we’ve come a long way since then. I’m not saying anything against Bob Kane, though!”

And speaking of previous incarnations of the character, Hathaway isn’t remotely concerned by comparisons to Michelle Pfeiffer et al.

“What’s come before doesn’t limit or even affect this new version,” she says. “It doesn’t affect me because each Catwoman – and this is true in the comics as well – she is defined by the context of the Gotham City created around her. Catwoman is so influenced by Gotham and whoever is creating Gotham at the time. Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman was informed by Tim Burton’s Gotham and Eartha Kitt was informed by Adam West’s Gotham. You have to live in whatever the reality of the world is and whatever Gotham is.”

Still more intriguing is the description of a scene that precedes the interview in the LA Times. Eyes away now if you don’t want to know what happens…

“Gotham City is a war zone,” begins the description. “A ruthless madman named Bane has ripped away any sense of security and the citizens, haggard and clutching suitcases with refugee anxiety, sit behind barbed wire waiting to see what will blow up next. A hooded prisoner is dragged in – it’s Bruce Wayne, one of Gotham’s most famous faces – but the eyes of the crowd go instead to the woman in black standing at the top of the staircase.”

“‘Sorry to spoil things, boys, but Bane needs these guys himself,’ says sultry Selina Kyle, played here by actress Anne Hathaway, navigating the steps with stiletto heels that, on closer inspection, turn out to have serrated edges capable of leaving nasty claw marks in a fight. She also wears high-tech goggles that, when not in use, flip up and resemble feline ears.”

So Bane and Catwoman are working together? Make of that what you will. The Dark Knight Rises is released in the UK on 20 July 2012.

Not so long ago, we flagged up a news story in which an officially-branded Pez dispenser appeared to have given the first clue to what The Amazing Spider-Man’s interpretation of The Lizard would look like. And now, thanks to the controller for a toy car, we have an even better idea of what to expect!

A new range of radio-controlled vehicles is set to be released to tie in with next summer’s release, and one of said controllers appears to depict a very clear image of The Lizard’s scaly bonce.

Worryingly, he looks a little bit like the sort of plastic-suited villain the Power Rangers might pit themselves against, but to be fair to him, a remote controller doesn’t give much scope for scale or nuance.

In any case, it would appear that Marvel have had their thunder stolen in terms of unveiling the Lizard’s new look. Let’s hope this latest development gives them the prod required to release an official image sooner rather than later.

The Amazing Spider-Man is released in the UK on 4 July 2012. Until then, you’ll just have to make do with the toy car and as much Pez as you can stomach…

Forget the Corvette. Ignore the F-150. The Honda Civic Hybrid may be the most quintessentially American car on the road.

I say this after a weekend spent in Ottawa, the capital of Canada. Like Cambridge, San Francisco or Seattle, the city may have a latté dispensary on every corner and no fewer than five restaurants serving farm-to-table organic charcuterie. But unlike similar cities stateside, there’s nary a hybrid to be found amidst the miniature Mazdas, Pontiac hatchbacks and diesel Vee-Dubs crowding the Queensway at rush hour. As a Bostonian, it was utterly disconcerting for me to hear cars idling at stoplights.

I’m no sociologist, but it’s easy to understand one reason why hybrids haven’t caught on in the Great White North. The average Canadian drives 8.8 miles to get to and from work, usually commuting from dense suburbs close to city centers — er, centres. The average American travels almost three times that distance. Even with the Dominion’s higher gas taxes, Canadians could all drive ‘59 Fleetwoods to work and still come out ahead.

In the U.S., we don’t like densely populated towns. In the postwar housing boom, we clamored for land, lots of land, only to get fenced in by rings of densely populated highways. We also dislike taking public transportation, funding public transportation, paying for gas, driving small cars, looking like we’re wasting gas when we’re wasting gas, finding a place that sells diesel or making any sort of compromise whatsoever.

Enter the 2012 Honda Civic Hybrid. Redesigned for 2012 with a new lithium-ion battery pack, it’s a uniquely American car, created for those who want to have their half-baked cake and eat it, too. It’s a pleasure to drive among hybrids, but anodyne compared to a TDI. It’s not expensive, but it’s not as cheap as a car without batteries. It’s a fuel-sipper, but a Prius uses less gas. By default, it’s the least-worst choice.

The 2012 Civic’s exterior update has had a lukewarm reception at best. The prior generation was as stylish as it was ubiquitous, but the new car only excels at communicating just how much money Honda saved through the redesign.

Inside, multiple LCD screens are canted towards the driver, like some sort of automotive Bloomberg terminal. On the tester I drove with leather and navigation ($26,750), those displays worked together about as closely as the 2011 Red Sox. For instance, the same glowing rectangle was responsible for displaying the radio tuner and navigation, but song titles were buried in a menu on another screen entirely. Replacing a tuning knob with a mini joystick makes scrolling through satellite radio channels a laborious task. And I’ll never understand why Honda wastes prime dashboard real estate by putting a tachometer right behind the steering wheel on a hybrid with a CVT.

Honda’s already got so much flak over the Civic’s interior that they’re in the process of drawing up a redesign. If their engineers want an example of how to better display relevant information, check out Lexus’ CT 200h, which offers such gems as an unobtrusive gauge that combines a tachometer and a fuel economy display.

Aside from all the screens, the car has a surprisingly low-tech vibe. The nav system’s display has a font cribbed from a serial killer’s ransom note, the seat heater switches are pure Heathkit and the shifter is straight out of a mid-’90s Accord. Prius aficionados will immediately note the absence of keyless ignition.

On the road, the car shines. The car relies on Honda’s Integrated Motor Assist, which adds electric power on acceleration and recaptures energy through regenerative braking. Since it augments a smaller, lighter engine, the Civic Hybrid gets the same mileage on the highway as around the city.

Despite my averaging 41.4 mpg, there was little feedback to indicate the Civic Hybrid’s duality of propulsion. Acceleration felt more brisk than a Prius, braking felt less grabby than most hybrids, and the car handled as competently as a regular Civic. My only complaint is how digital and detached the electric steering felt, as if the wheels must only turn at even-numbered angles.

It’s a good car overall, but the balance of battery-electric power has changed. Where the old Civic Hybrid just had to be better than the Toyota Prius, the new car is competing against offerings from Ford, Hyundai and Kia, plus a spate of VW diesels and low-emissions compacts. Price and performance-wise, the new Honda straddles an awkward middle-ground between Priuses that lease for $200 a month and loaded Ford Fusion Hybrids that sell for remarkably close to the upper limit of the Civic’s asking price. By comparison, the Civic Hybrid is a compromise, a kludge, a slice of Americana.

The Civic Hybrid’s toughest competition, however, is in the same showroom.

First, a little lesson in marketing: Toyota’s Prius became the hybrid poster child because the automaker added utility to the Prius that none of their other vehicles have. If they’d just stuck batteries in a Corolla, the customer could immediately see how little value a hybrid would add. But the Prius has a funky dashboard, a huge hatch and a lot of personality for an A-to-B appliance. You might love it, you might hate it — but you probably won’t find yourself sweating bullets in a Toyota dealership, dithering over its financial merits versus a Matrix. Similarly, Ford started the Lincoln MKZ and MKZ Hybrid at the same base price to avoid that conversation.

Aside from a hybrid drivetrain and standard Bluetooth, the base Civic HF is almost identical to the base Civic Hybrid. Sure it has an EPA rating of 29 city/41 highway, but it also sells for almost $4,600 less. I’ll do the well-worn hybrid premium math: Assuming that gas is $3.50 a gallon and that you’re driving 12,000 miles a year with a lead foot in city traffic, it’ll take nearly nine years to make up the difference between a Civic Hybrid and Civic HF in fuel costs alone. About the only rational rationale for buying the Hybrid over the HF is the two fewer tons of carbon dioxide the battery-boosted car emits over its ICE-only stablemate. Coincidentally, that’s the same amount of carbon dioxide a human emits each year just from digesting food. Go on a juice diet, and there’s no reason to get the Hybrid.

Or, you could just move closer to work and potentially halve your carbon footprint, but that would be downright un-American.

WIRED 44 mpg highway, 44 mpg city. Improved lithium-ion battery pack. Nimble on the open road. So! Many! Screens!

TIRED Interior could use an update. Less value than other hybrids. Steering is too robotic.

Photos courtesy of American Honda Motor Co., Inc.

Aussie surrealist Sam Simmons earned himself an Edinburgh Comedy Award nomination for this hysterically funny hour of relentless silliness. A mix of stand-up, sketches, songs, cartoons, llamas and tacos – he’s utterly…