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14 / 03 / 2010
Fantasy F1: The results from the first race in Bahrain are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Australia on 28th March.

09 / 03 / 2010
Fantasy F1! Yes, there's a brand new Fantasy Formula One game! Check the rules or enter your team by Friday night to qualify for the first race in Bahrain!

08 / 03 / 2010
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17 / 02 / 2010
Fantasy Rally: The points awarded for a win have changed in the real WRC, so we've reflected the changes in our scoring too. Check the rules to see the details. Next rally is Mexico on 5th March, teams will be frozen at midnight on the night of Thursday 4th March.

16 / 02 / 2010
Fantasy Rally: The results from Rally Sweden are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team.

31 / 01 / 2010
Fantasy Rally: The new rally season is upon us - 2010 Fantasy Rally is now open! Check the rules or pick a team ready for the start on 12th Feb.

25 / 10 / 2009
Fantasy Rally: All previous years' Fantasy Rally results are online - Check the 2009 season.

02 / 08 / 2009
Reviews: Sorry, there won't be any more movie reviews for the foreseeable future. Events have overtaken me. Catch up on reviews you may have missed.

18 / 08 / 2005
Sudoku! Have a go at the online Sudoku game.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Cast: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton, Jared Harris, Julia Ormond. Directed by David Fincher, adapted from a story by F Scott Fitzgerald. Story: Man is born old and gets younger, ageing backwards. Running Time: 2hrs 2 minutes. UK certificate 15, US certificate R.

I've been looking forward to this one ever since the trailer first surfaced - and it certainly hasn't disappointed.

Initial impressions, though, aren't great. We start off in a hospital room, with a Doctor Who villain lying in bed groaning ... oh dear, that's supposed to be Cate Blanchett in her free-flowing-bladder years. It goes weird again shortly afterwards, where Cate's voice - trying to sound like a child - is awkwardly dubbed over young-Cate-actress's lip movements. Hmmm. I'm sure that seemed like a good idea in the editing suite, but it really doesn't work here.

Fortunately these are only opening foibles. As soon as Brad Pitt is born as an old man and starts hobbling around, the magic takes hold and never lets go. Ah, that's better.

"Born as an old man," I say? Indeed. The "curious case" of Benjamin Button is that he was born as a wrinkly wee-factory (OK, nothing odd at that point), then during his childhood he's physically an old man, and gets progressively younger over the years. And he's Brad Pitt. Some guys have all the luck.

Impressively, he's Brad Pitt all the time. Even when he's the dried up prune of an old/young man, all of three feet tall, he's still Brad Pitt, and he still interacts with everybody else on screen, completely seamlessly. It's a marvel to watch - forget hobbits, this is in a new league. And then later on, of course, he gets younger again ... and lo and behold, there's a 17 year old Brad. And it looks real. Amazing.

Of course, ageing in reverse as he does, relationships tend to be less of a lifetime deal. Tilda Swinton (the White Witch in Narnia) gets in on the ground floor, but it's Cate Blanchett who's mostly dreading the floppy bits appearing. The love story between these two actually loses some intensity because Brad is rather deadpan - much as I admire Brad's acting and thoroughly enjoyed his performance, it could have been better suited to the role. He's still electric though, and commands the movie through patches where the story dismisses realism, favouring a rosier fairy-tale style. There's no suggestion of him being offered a bajillion dollars for his blood by the Oil of Olay people, for example...

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a delight. Undemanding and easy to watch, it's everything a fairy tale should be.

I enjoyed this film: 5/5

I think the average moviegoer will enjoy it: 5/5

Testosterone Satisfaction Rating: 0/5

To enjoy this film: treat it as a fairy tale.