Latest News

25 / 07 / 2010
Fantasy F1: The results from the eleventh race in Germany are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Hungary next weekend on 1st August.

11 / 07 / 2010
Fantasy Rally: The results from Rally Bulgaria are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next rally is Finland on THURSDAY 29th July (a day earlier than usual!).

11 / 07 / 2010
Fantasy F1: The results from the tenth race in Silverstone are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Hockenheim on 25th July.

27 / 06 / 2010
Fantasy F1: The results from the ninth race in Valencia are in, including the penalties for the naughty boys driving too fast. Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Silverstone on 11th July.

13 / 06 / 2010
Fantasy F1: The results from the eighth race in Canada are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Valencia on 27th June.

30 / 05 / 2010
Fantasy Rally: The results from Rally Portugal are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next rally is Bulgaria on 9th July.

30 / 05 / 2010
Fantasy F1: The results from the exciting seventh race in Turkey are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Canada on 13th June.

16 / 05 / 2010
Fantasy F1: The Monaco scores have been updated to reflect Michael Schumacher's ridiculous penalty for daring to overtake a Ferrari. Check the updated results, see how your team did or enter a new team.

16 / 05 / 2010
Fantasy F1: The results from the sixth race in Monaco are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Turkey on 30th May.

10 / 05 / 2010
Fantasy F1: The results from the fifth race in Barcelona are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Monaco on 16th May.

10 / 05 / 2010
Fantasy Rally: The results from Rally New Zealand are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next rally is Portugal on 28th May.

19 / 04 / 2010
Fantasy Rally: The results from Rally Turkey are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next rally is New Zealand on 7th May.

18 / 04 / 2010
Fantasy F1: The results from the fourth race in China are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Barcelona on 9th May.

06 / 04 / 2010
Fantasy Rally: The JWRC driver lineup has been released, so you can make your selection before teams are frozen for Turkey on the night of 15th April. If you don't pick anyone, you'll get Aaron Burkart by default.

05 / 04 / 2010
Fantasy F1: The results from the third race in Malaysia are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is China on 18th April.

03 / 04 / 2010
Fantasy Rally: The results from Rally Jordan are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Turkey on 14th April.

29 / 03 / 2010
Fantasy F1: The results from the second race in Melbourne are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Malaysia THIS WEEKEND on 4th April.

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
Fantasy Rally: The results from Rally Mexico are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Jordan on 1st April.

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.

A History of Violence

Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris, William Hurt. Directed by David Cronenberg. Story: A have-a-go hero attracts the unwelcome attention of a mob boss. Running Time: 1hr 36 minutes. UK Certificate 18.

A History of Violence is an unusual movie. It's quiet and unassuming and moves with all the speed of an asthmatic elephant. Action fans stay away.

Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn from the Lord of the Rings) stars as a quiet cafe proprietor who foils an attempted robbery and becomes a local hero. His actions attract mob boss Ed Harris, for reasons I shan't go into - as ever it's better if you know as little as possible before seeing it. The film moves with a syrupy pace, lingering on each scene a little too long, creating a slightly false sense of significance, but succeeding in conveying a brooding, ominous atmosphere. Very little happens, but we're still intrigued to learn the outcome and the movie doesn't drag, despite the neolithic pace. David Cronenberg has always attempted to make films that stand out from the crowd, from the looks-like-a-bad-TV-series Videodrome, through The Fly, the desperately weird Naked Lunch and the horrible Crash (no relation to the excellent Paul Haggis movie of the same name). Since eXistenZ, he's diluted his weirdness and deliberate shock tactics a little and it's helped with the watchability. A History of Violence plays more like a regular movie with some extra care lavished on it.

Performances are excellent among the key performers, with Mortensen giving a massively understated portrayal of the troubled restaurateur - perhaps a little too minimalistic in places. Maria Bello, from The Cooler and Assault on Precinct 13, is excellent as the supportive wife, Ed Harris is a perfectly judged bad guy Carl Fogarty (clearly a bike fan!) and William Hurt (The Village) gives a cracking scene towards the end. In fact the only substandard performance is by the little kid Heidi Hayes, who is awfully stilted like the average kid's school play. Under the subdued direction of Cronenberg, the family works well together and the whole effect is very watchable. My only real complaint is about the ending, which didn't seem nearly tied-up enough, but maybe that was the point. Under different supervision, A History of Violence could have been just another Hollywood yawnfest, but here we have an interesting and thoughtful tale, which I can sincerely recommend to anyone who likes quiet movies with long periods of nothing but mood setting.

A History of Violence will not appeal to everyone. It is very violent in places, but in an appropriate way so it doesn't seem gratuitous. The story is very thin with virtually no substance, but it doesn't matter because it's told so carefully and soulfully. Viewers of a patient disposition will find a rare gem, action fans will fall asleep waiting for the climax that never shows.

I enjoyed this film: 4/5

I think the average moviegoer will enjoy it: 3/5

Testosterone Satisfaction Rating: 2/5 Shooting, bloody injuries, a brief flash of Maria Bello's best bits.

To enjoy this film you should: stay off the coffee - take it slow.