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.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Cast: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Sacha Baron Cohen. Directed by Tim Burton. Story: London Barber kills customers to make pies. Running Time: 1hr 56 minutes. UK Certificate 18.

In the black corner: Tim Burton and Johnny Depp - a guarantee for a great movie. In the brown corner: it's a MUSICAL - eurgh. This could go down to the judges.

First of all, if you like musicals AND Tim Burton's movies (there must be someone) then stop reading and go straight to the cinema, because this'll be your movie of the year. However, many viewers will be distinctly turned off by either the singing or by Burton's gothic style (Batman, Sleepy Hollow etc.) - and if that happens you'll struggle to immerse yourself at all.

Adapted from the successful Stephen Sondheim Broadway musical, Johnny Depp is Sweeney Todd, a barber in Old London Town out for revenge on the rotter who nicked his crumpet. Helena Bonham Carter runs the manky pie shop below and between them they strike upon the idea of giving customers a rather intrusive shave - knowworrImean - and putting them in the pies. Fray Bentos have no plans to sue.

Personally I love Burton's movies (if we forget the uncharacteristic faux pas that was Planet of the Apes) and Johnny Depp is among my favourite performers - but Sweeney Todd left me cold. It's fine when the characters are chatting to each other, but just as the atmosphere is starting to build, one of them starts warbling and the illusion shatters. Not only that, the dialogue itself is largely sung, pointlessly, rather than limiting the trilling to the actual songs. They're not even very catchy tunes - I haven't been humming them as you might expect. I'm not even sure I can remember any. It's frustrating because if it had been played as a straight movie, I'd have loved it. Tim Burton's brooding scenery is typically engaging in a fantasy kind of way and the opening sequence sets the tone beautifully. All the performances are appropriate for a dark fairy tale and there's plenty of blood once Sweeney's barbery becomes carvery. Such a shame they had to spoil it.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is getting great reviews because it's a great musical. But it's still a musical, and at the end of the day it's that single fact that will determine whether or not you like it.

I enjoyed this film: 3/5

I think the average moviegoer will enjoy it: 5/5 if you're into musicals.

Testosterone Satisfaction Rating: 2/5 - lashings of blood and dismembered body parts, Helena Bonham Carter's heaving bosom (which changes size due to her pregnancy during filming) and light language such as piss and bugger, but the 18 certificate is ludicrous. It has 15 written all over it.

To enjoy this film you should: like Tim Burton and soft furnishings. I mean musicals.