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Latest News

23 / 01 / 2012
Fantasy Rally:
Teams are now open for editing again. Ogier and Mikkelsen are entered into Sweden in S2000 cars, but they're not eligible for the SWRC championship. You can choose them as WRC drivers for Sweden if you want.

22 / 01 / 2012
Fantasy Rally:
Results from the Monte are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. The second rally is in Sweden and starts on 9th Feb. Teams will be frozen at midnight GMT on the night of Thursday 9th Feb.

18 / 01 / 2012
Fantasy Rally:
Rally teams are now frozen for the Monte. You can still pick a team and it will start scoring from Sweden on 9th Feb.

11 / 01 / 2012
Fantasy Rally:
The 2012 Fantasy Rally season is now open for entries! Read the rules or dive straight in and pick a team. You can change your team as often as you like so you may as well create one now in case you forget later. Cutoff for the first race in Monte Carlo is midnight GMT on the night of TUESDAY 17th January.

27 / 11 / 2011
Fantasy F1:
The results from the final F1 race at Brazil are in and the championship has been decided! Check the results or see how your team did. First race of 2012 is Australia on 18th March. Entries for the new season will open a week or two before that date.

14 / 11 / 2011
Fantasy Rally:
Shock rally drama! Martin Semerad was excluded from the PWRC, so our results change too, which gives us a new champion! Check the results or see how your team did.

13 / 11 / 2011
Fantasy Rally:
The results from Rally GB are in and the season is over! Check the results or see how your team did. The 2012 season will be open for entries in early 2012 in time for Monte Carlo on 17th January.

13 / 11 / 2011
Fantasy F1:
The results from F1 race 18 at Abu Dhabi are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Only one race to go - the final race is Brazil in two weeks on 27th November.

30 / 10 / 2011
Fantasy F1:
The results from F1 race 17 at India are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Only two races to go - next race is Abu Dhabi in two weeks on 13th November.

24 / 10 / 2011
Fantasy Rally:
The results from Rally Spain are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. The next and FINAL rally of the year is Wales Rally GB on 10th November. Entries close on the night of WEDNESDAY 9th November (a day earlier than usual).

16 / 10 / 2011
Fantasy F1:
The results from F1 race 16 at South Korea are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is India in two weeks on 30th October.

09 / 10 / 2011
Fantasy F1:
The results from F1 race 15 at Suzuka are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is South Korea next weekend on 16th October.

02 / 10 / 2011
Fantasy Rally:
The results from Rally France are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next rally is Spain on 20th October.

25 / 09 / 2011
Fantasy F1:
The results from F1 race 14 at Singapore are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Suzuka in two weeks on 9th October.

11 / 09 / 2011
Fantasy Rally:
The results from Rally Australia are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next rally is France on 29th September.

11 / 09 / 2011
Fantasy F1:
The results from F1 race 13 at Monza are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Singapore in two weeks on 25th September.

28 / 08 / 2011
Fantasy F1:
The results from F1 race 12 at Spa are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Monza in two weeks on 11th September.

21 / 08 / 2011
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 Australia on 8th September.

01 / 08 / 2011
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 18th August.

31 / 07 / 2011
Fantasy F1:
The results from F1 race 11 at Hungary are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Spa in a month on 28th August.

24 / 07 / 2011
Fantasy F1:
The results from F1 race 10 at the Nurburgring are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Hungary next weekend on 31st July.

10 / 07 / 2011
Fantasy F1:
The results from F1 race 9 at Silverstone are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Nurburgring in 2 weeks on 24th July.

26 / 06 / 2011
Fantasy F1:
The results from F1 race 8 in Valencia are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Silverstone in 2 weeks on 10th July.

19 / 06 / 2011
Fantasy Rally:
The results from Rally Acropolis are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next rally is Finland on 28th July.

12 / 06 / 2011
Fantasy F1:
The results from F1 race 7 in Canada are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Valencia in 2 weeks on 26th June.

30 / 05 / 2011
Fantasy Rally:
The results from Rally Argentina are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next rally is Greece on 16th June.

29 / 05 / 2011
Fantasy F1:
The results from F1 race 6 in Monaco are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Canada in 2 weeks on 12th June.

22 / 05 / 2011
Fantasy F1:
The results from F1 race 5 in Barcelona are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Monaco next weekend on 29th May.

08 / 05 / 2011
Fantasy Rally:
The results from Rally Sardinia are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next rally is Argentina on 26th May.

08 / 05 / 2011
Fantasy F1:
The results from the fourth F1 race of 2011 in Turkey are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Barcelona on 22nd May.

17 / 04 / 2011
Fantasy F1:
The results from the thrilling third F1 race of 2011 in China are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Turkey on 8th May.

16 / 04 / 2011
Fantasy Rally:
The results from the rather shortened Rally Jordan are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next rally is Sardinia on 5th May.

10 / 04 / 2011
Fantasy F1:
The results from Malaysia have been updated to reflect the penalties applied to Hamilton and Alonso. Of course, being a Ferrari, Alonso's didn't actually make any difference.

10 / 04 / 2011
Fantasy F1:
The results from the second F1 race of 2011 in Malaysia are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is China on 17th April.

28 / 03 / 2011
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 Jordan on 14th April.

27 / 03 / 2011
Fantasy F1:
The results from Australia have been updated to reflect the disqualification of the Saubers.

27 / 03 / 2011
Fantasy F1:
The results from the first F1 race in Melbourne are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Malaysia on 10th April.

14 / 03 / 2011
Fantasy F1:
The 2011 Fantasy F1 season is finally open for entries! Pick your team now as the first race is on 27th March!

07 / 03 / 2011
Fantasy Rally:
The results from Rally Mexico are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next rally is Portugal on 24th March.

14 / 02 / 2011
Fantasy Rally:
The results from Rally Sweden are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next rally is Mexico on 3rd March.

06 / 02 / 2011
Fantasy Rally:
At last! The 2011 Fantasy Rally season is open for entries! Pick your team now as the first rally starts on Thursday!

14 / 11 / 2010
Fantasy Rally:
The results from the final round, Wales Rally GB, are in! Check the results or see how your team did in the final standings.

14 / 11 / 2010
Fantasy F1:
The results from the final race at Abu Dhabi are in! Check the results or see how your team did. Please come back and play again next year!

07 / 11 / 2010
Fantasy F1:
The results from the eighteenth and penultimate race at Brazil are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. The final race is Abu Dhabi next week on 14th November.

03 / 10 / 2010
Fantasy Rally:
The results from Rally Spain are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next and final rally is Wales Rally GB on 12th November.

24 / 10 / 2010
Fantasy F1:
The results from the seventeenth race at South Korea are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Brazil in two weeks on 7th November.

10 / 10 / 2010
Fantasy F1:
The results from the sixteenth race at Suzuka are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Korea in two weeks on 24th October.

03 / 10 / 2010
Fantasy Rally:
The results from Rally France are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next rally is Spain on 22nd October.

26 / 09 / 2010
Fantasy F1:
The results from the fifteenth race in Singapore are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Suzuka in two weeks on 10th October.

14 / 09 / 2010
Fantasy Rally:
The results from Rally Japan are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next rally is France on 1st October.

12 / 09 / 2010
Fantasy F1:
The results from the fourteenth race in Monza are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Singapore in two weeks on 26th September.

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.

 

Stealth

Stealth

Cast: Josh Lucas, Jessica Biel, Jamie Foxx, Sam Shepard, Richard Roxburgh, Joe Morton.

Directed by Rob Cohen.

Story: A pilotless fighter plane goes bananas.

Running Time: 2hrs 1 minute.

Certificate 12A.

 

The trailer would have us believe that Stealth is a faintly ludicrous, barely believable action flick with very little going for it except some cool special effects. And it's right. Except that for "faintly ludicrous", read "laughably absurd" and for "barely believable", read "less convincing than an estate agent's CV".

Watching in slow motion / As you turn to me and say / Top Gun was yesterday Stealth is, as you will have already realised, pretty awful. When you learn that it's made by Rob Cohen, who directed xXx, and that it's trying to be a modern day Top Gun, you've got it banged to rights. From the slo-mo walk across the aircraft carrier to the impossible airborne manouevres, via the contrived and cheesey dialogue, it's Top Gun's monkey-see-monkey-do younger brother. If you're too young to remember the original pap that made Tom Cruise famous, then you might just be in the target audience. For anyone older, you really need to be a hardened action fan to be able to ignore the inanity and offensive implausibility of the screenplay. The story of a fighter plane with artificial intelligence and the capability to learn is not a new one, and could easily have been made at least partly believable, but no, we don't get a decent story or even much in the way of gratuitious titillation that you could normally expect in a teen-aimed dross-pic. The BBC movies site, which I already suspected of not watching many of the movies that they review, is becoming increasingly inaccurate - don't believe their lies that Jessica Biel "spends as much time in the buff as in the air". There's a 30-second scene of her in a bikini - that's it.

It's the plane.  Chicks love the plane. The performances don't really matter in an empty cackfest such as this, but they're adequate throughout. I actually thought I was watching Matthew McConaughey (from Sahara) the whole way through until I saw Josh Lucas on the end credits, that's how insignificant the people are. Stealth is an effect-driven movie, and they are in fact excellent. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that there weren't any real planes used in the whole movie - everything airborne and half the ground pieces look computer-generated. Using the familiar style-over-substance protocol, we see the planes barrel-rolling and hotdogging across the landscape, causing some spectacular explosions - one in particular propels a band of infantry into the air and is all the more effective for it. Even the more mundane effects are good, such as a remarkable scene transition from seascape into concrete floor with no discernible join.

Stealth is a carbon copy of Top Gun with updated effects, and is thus the Baywatch of action movies, but with CGI replacing the totty. Take it for what it is and you might enjoy the epidermal thrills, expect any kind of quality movie and you'll be as disappointed as the bimbo bank robber that found out too late what they meant when they said she'd be "punished by the penal system".

I enjoyed this film: 2/5

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

Testosterone Satisfaction Rating: 4/5 Jessica Biel in a skimpy bikini and lots of super-cool crash-bang and whooo-wheeeeee effects.

To enjoy this film you should be: an action fan all the way. It'll help if you're shitfaced too.

 

Stealth is released in the UK on August 5th.

 

Your comments

The comments printed here are not necessarily the views of Forwardcharm!

 

WARNING *** SPOILERS ***

I had hoped this movie would be a 21st century Top Gun, just for the flying sequences, however, it turns out to be a cross between bad acting and CGI effects with no grounding in fact.

Stealth has action but no story. I could write a better plot! The story in the film is basically 3 jocks (one of them a girl) get picked from 4000 hopefuls to fly the new super Stealth aircraft which seems to be a cross between Thunderbird 1 and Firefox with the voice of Bond's BMW5
series computer.

There is the usual I love you bit between Lucas and Biel (call signs One and Two), I'm no pilot but I expect call signs should be sexier (can you imagine Burt Reynolds being called 'Driver' in Bandit). On with the film.. 3 pilots get 3 Stealth fighters to kill bad guys, wait for it, now there's a fourth but this one is all computer and called E.D.I which is a learning computer and the three humans are supposed to fly with it on missions so it can pick up their skills.

To give you a feel of the rubbish in this movie I'm going to spoil a scene, one particular mission is to blow up an office building in the middle of Rangoon. How do they know this, cause their stealth fighters and satellites in the sky can perform retinal scans and finger print analyses of the terrorists and confirm their identities, question: How did they have their finger prints and retinal data already on file? Anyway, their mission is to shoot missiles at the terrorists and blow up the building but it must be blown up with no innocent casualties which is impossible as it's in the middle of Rangoon, however E.D.I works out that it can be done if a missile is fired whilst the plane is in a full
throttle descent heading straight down. It's an impossible mission, so E.D.I is ordered to do it because a human would black out, not our intrepid leader he does it and lives. Yawn.....

Getting on with the story, they all fly back to the Aircraft carrier and E.D.I gets its brain fried by a lighting bolt (The plane must have cost Billions to produce but no one thought to shield anything from an electrical hit, strange!!). Why does it not use its VTOL capability to land? OK, plane gets fried, sort of gets repaired but Kwik Fit fitter don't investigate just changes a part and now we have a rogue aircraft, E.D.I kills number Three (Foxx) Two's plane gets caught in wreckage and she ejects and One gets to show us his flying skills and their's a good CGI ring of fire! Middle stage of the film is not worth talking about and the ending is right out of standard sci-fi in so far as A.I gets emotion and understanding (even empathy) and pays the ultimate sacrifice (why it did not use Missiles is beyond me!!)

To close, if you want to see a bit of Biel in a bikini go see the movie if you want to see good flight sequences rent Top Gun.
Mike G