Latest News

09 / 09 / 2010
Fantasy Rally: Results from Rally Japan will be delayed - expect to see them around Wednesday-ish.

30 / 08 / 2010
Fantasy F1: The scores from Spa have been updated to reflect Alguersuari's 3-place penalty.

29 / 08 / 2010
Fantasy F1: The results from the thirteenth race in Belgium are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Monza in two weeks on 12th September.

22 / 08 / 2010
Fantasy Rally: The results from Rally Germany are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next rally is Japan on 10th September.

01 / 08 / 2010
Fantasy F1: The results from the twelfth race in Hungary are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Spa in four weeks on 29th August.

01 / 08 / 2010
Fantasy Rally: The results from Rally Finland are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next rally is Germany on 20th August.

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.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Cast: Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley, Orlando Bloom, Bill Nighy, Jack Davenport, Mackenzie Crook, Jonathan Pryce, Geoffrey Rush, Kevin McNally. Directed by Gore Verbinski. Story: Captain Jack Sparrow swashes his buckles again. Running Time: 2hrs 30 minutes. UK Certificate 12A.

Fan-bloomin-tastic! Ignore the critics, they don't have a clue - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is a rip-roaring rollercoaster that will satisfy pretty much everyone.

The first Pirates movie was a classic - Johnny Depp showed why he's a world class performer with his wobbly camp portrayal of Jack Sparrow - but you couldn't help noticing a frisson of uncertainty, as if the director wasn't quite convinced it was going to work. Unsurprisingly, this sequel is a frisson-free zone - all the stops have been pulled out to make, quite simply, one of the most rawly pleasing movies I've ever seen. As with Superman Returns, the two and a half hour running time positively whizzes by, with barely a moment not filled with some kind of amusing aside or adrenaline boost. This is indeed a fairground made into a movie, there's so much packed into it that it's hard at times to follow all the detail - but that's just a great excuse to see it a second time, which I most definitely will be doing.

Johnny Depp is peerless as Jack Sparrow, truly it's one of the performances of the decade. Wonderfully dry and hugely entertaining, he sets the screen on fire once again. Orlando Bloom, usually the subject of a roasting by yours truly (see Kingdom of Heaven and Troy), fits perfectly into this movie - his natural hammy style is ideal for a movie that never takes itself at all seriously - this is his niche, just like Bill & Ted was Keanu Reeves' niche. Bill Nighy (Love Actually, Underworld etc.) is the big bad Davy Jones - and despite being a squid-man, despite being completely obscured under squiddy bits, despite being almost entirely CGI, he's still recognisable. He can't seem to decide whether or not to be Scottish, but you can't have everything - on the whole he does a great job, as we've come to expect from him these days.

Much of this episode is aided by heavyweight computer graphics - much more so than in the first outing. Whilst not 100% perfect, they are nonetheless integral to the enjoyment, from the fight on the rolling wheel to the monstrous Kraken, we're taken into Captain Jack's world and we delight in every moment. While jumping around performing ludicrous stunts, we know our heroes aren't going to get hurt because it's that kind of fluffy movie - but that just adds to the child-like glee you feel as a ship explodes in a pile of splinters or a zombie pirate walks into a tree. I'm frankly bemused about the panning it's been getting by the critics - I can only assume that if you watch movies for a living, the frenetic pace and permeating daftness of Dead Man's Chest might tingle the wrong nerves. For the rest of us, we'll love every moment and will happily look forward to next year's third instalment, which was filmed back-to-back with this one.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is fabulous. Unless you thought the first one was a pile of toss (I'm sure there are some of you out there) or are in the movie critic's parallel universe, you'll love it.

I enjoyed this film: 5/5

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

Testosterone Satisfaction Rating: 3/5 - the big scary monster could upset very young viewers, everything is fast-flying family-friendly fun.

To enjoy this film you should be: not a movie critic.