Sweet Music Centre

Count Dracula has been resurrected many times in the movies, especially in the Hammer ones. Conversely, he has also been killed off much more than once. When it came to coming up with some pretty novel – and gruesome – ways of disposing of the evil count, Hammer films were certainly outstanding in this respect.

In Dracula (1958), Hammer’s debut film in the Christopher Lee series, the count is vanquished by his arch enemy Professor Van Helsing (played so brilliantly by Peter Cushing), who bravely leaps across a table, whilst chasing Dracula through his castle, and pulls down the curtains, exposing the bloodsucker to the thing that is always guaranteed to roast a vampire into dusty nothingness: the sunlight of dawn. As Dracula crumbles away under the combined destruction of the sun’s rays and Van Helsing’s makeshift crucifix, hastily formed from two pieces of candelabra, we are witnessing the start of what would go on to be such an entertaining, iconic series involving the vampire lord.

In Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1965), the count is resurrected in the most gruesome manner imaginable: servant Klove cuts the throat of a suspended corpse over the sarcophagus containing Dracula’s remains… and as the blood flows down onto the ashes, the count slowly materialises back to life, whereupon he proceeds to feast on the vulnerable female visitors to his castle. At the climax of this sequel, Dracula slips under the ice to a watery grave as a priest shoots at the frozen moat around his castle.

But you can’t keep a good vampire down. In Dracula Has Risen From The Grave (1968), the count is resuscitated from his icy grave by the blood from the head wound of a priest who stumbles and falls down onto the spot under which Dracula’s body is lying in suspended animation, cracking the ice and trickling the blood onto the vampire’s lips. The death scene in this movie is truly my favourite Dracula exit of all. After a desperate struggle with the hero Paul (played by Barry Andrews) outside his castle, Dracula falls off a cliff and becomes impaled on a large cross, previously thrown down there by the hypnotised heroine Maria (Veronica Carlson). Some awesome Dracula death throes ensue, with the impaled count staggering around the woods with the top of the huge cross protruding from his chest, gasping and screaming in agony, blood pouring profusely from his body, as he gradually disintegrates, leaving only a crimson, viscous mess all over the cross and ground.

If you are like most Americans, you are familiar with House, the witty and sardonic doctor on Fox TV. You are probably also familiar with poor Cuddy, boss of House. She is constantly immersed with House in battles of wit and motivation. Cuddy urgently needs RFID, and here are six reasons why:

Instant House Location System
Combine a real-time location system (RTLS) with a RFID tag implanted in House’s cane to let Cuddy know where he is at all times. No longer can he watch his favorite soap operas while hidden in the break room. He will find no sanctuary to play Gameboy (or whatever other gaming system he is promoting this episode) in peace. Wherever he goes, Cuddy can track him.

Limit Vicodin Intake
With RFID, Vicodin could (and very soon will be) tracked at the item level. This allows Cuddy to know when… or, er… how much House is using at any given time.

Automated Patient Reports
While there are few things House doesn’t hate, near the top of the hated list is paperwork. Many RFID systems allow for a variety of automated reports including patient reports. While House would still have paperwork to pass off onto one of his staff (or refuse to do entirely when negotiating with Cuddy), at least the amount of overall paperwork would be reduced, leaving him more time to be cranky and save lives.

Always have the cure
With RFID, custom par levels can be set which prevent shortages. This is extremely necessary as House will often need a specialized something-or-other to cure that one-in-a-billion disease. You must keep everything in stock of at least one. If not, House won’t have the necessary cure on hand to heal the lady with jelly for bones.

Reduced costs
Everyone knows House is one of the most expensive doctors to keep around. He is constantly costing Cuddy money with the constant lawsuits, extended patient stays (often due to the initial diagnosis), and other miscellaneous costs of keeping House around (Vicodin supply for example). With all of these costs, Cuddy could certainly gain from reduced costs on the side. RFID can provide her this cost reduction, so that she can keep House around for just one more season.

Limitless is a film with so much going for it. Great plot, interesting camera techniques and shots and the acting isn’t half bad. So then why has it not reached the perpetual level of film greatness? This film has it all and yet is missing the key ingredient to bind all these elements together. And what is this key ingredient you ask? Well it’s not ‘Chemical X’ (sorry for the power puff girl’s analogy) or anything complicated for that matter. All this film is missing is an ending. Of course Limitless has an ending, but I mean a ‘real’ ending, one of substantial relevance that would pack a punch and catch the viewer off guard. I have my own ideas for an alternative ending, but we’ll come to that later.

Plot

Limitless is basically about a struggling writer (which is apt as the film is based on a book) who takes some magical pills that allows him to access inconceivable super human brain power. And thus he becomes an overnight success, finishing his book in less than a week and instantly becoming a dab hand at anything he puts his mind to. But with great power comes great responsibility, oh wait no, that’s Spiderman. But Uncle Ben does have a point. Eddie Mora (Bradley Cooper) does inherit great responsibility. His newly acquired powers are put to the test against formidable foe’s including loan sharks, a mysterious stalker, the financial tycoon Carl Van Loon (Robert De Niro) and the drugs devastating side effects. And thus marks the start of Eddie’s drug induced, action packed rise to greatness. This of course brings us on to the ending.

The end

The final scene takes place ten years later where we see that the main character has become a senator and is running for president courtesy of those mighty little tablets. Eddie appears to be a new man, stereotypically presidential looking. He comes face to face with Van Loon who has now solved the riddle regarding Eddie’s unexplainable intelligence. Van Loon has bought out the labs which produce the ‘pill of limitless power’ or NZT as it’s called in the film meaning that Eddie would be form here on indebted to Carl Van Loon. If I was directing this film the end credits would begin rolling at this point. But as I am not director the film plays on. We see that Eddie no longer needs NZT. And thus he no longer needs Van Loon. The end credits instead roll after a victorious Eddie passes an un-subtitled joke with a Chinese waiter.

It’s the day comic book fans across the globe have been waiting for. Today Marvel released their first full-length trailer for The Avengers movie due next year. Offering our first glimpse of Mark Ruffalo as The Hulk, the trailer certainly did not disappoint. Not much was revealed though, confirming that this is more of a teaser to keep fans satisfied for the time being. What we can do though, is speculate about the movie from what we’ve seen so far.

1) Joss Whedon is certainly keeping the team’s main threat under wraps for now:

During the trailer we saw gigantic expositions destroying cars and streets, as well as military forces preparing for what seemed like an attack from above. Could it be Skrulls? Could it be the Kree? Either way I have to give Whedon credit for not giving everything away too soon. We know Loki is the mastermind behind everything, what else he’s using remains a mystery.

2) Tony Stark takes the spotlight:

We saw a lot of Tony during the trailer. Whilst that’s certainly not a bad thing, it does however look like he will have a bigger part than most. Providing the film doesn’t suffer from X-Men syndrome, where other characters were ignored in favour of Wolverine, I’m happy for Tony to take the spotlight.

3) There is conflict between Steve and Tony:

One of the best moments in the trailer was watching Steve and Tony stand face to face. It’s great to see the dynamic between the characters taken from the comics. Credit to RDJ, who made the scene his own with an excellent response to Steve’s questioning. If they can provide this kind of character dynamic throughout the film, it could end up being one of the best comic book movies of all time.

4) The team has problems:

One of the more interesting moments was watching Thor attack Captain America in the forest. Given that Steve was in his new outfit, it would suggest Thor is either a late addition to the Avengers team, or perhaps Loki’s manipulation is what’s putting Thor against Cap. I’m presuming Loki’s voiceover at the beginning of the trailer was taken from a scene with him and The Hulk, plus Loki seemed to bother Black Widow when he walked past in captivity, so I expect Thor’s brother will be manipulating with the minds of all the heroes during the film.