Review: Home entertainment

CD
Razorlight: Slipway Fires
2/5

Drunks know it as the “beer goggles� factor. After 10 pints on a Saturday night, the world looks prettier, but there’s no getting away from that sudden daybreak epiphany that the reality is much, much less rosy.

So be very wary about peering too closely at Razorlight’s new album, because under the sunny bouncy pop lie the putrid warts and boils of lyrics you wouldn’t praise if your six-year-old scribbled them down.

Razorlight are on the poppier end of the trendy rock spectrum, but even rank poppiness doesn’t fully get you off the hook when you’re making half-references to Bob Dylan’s Desolation Row and slapping down clumpy rhyming couplets like a piledriver.

Frontman Johnny Borrell may have an ear for a sing-along tune, but he may soon have to check in to rehab for his addiction to rhyming dictionaries.
John Hill

DVD
21
3/5

The expression “by the numbers� was made for this DVD.

Like counting cards, there’s a formula – you know what’s coming next, you know how you’ll react and you’ll know what you get from the experience.

But – as this movie aims to show – predictability doesn’t mute the thrills of the adrenalin rush.

21 is a high stakes gambling caper – inspired by a true story – which is elevated by the presence of Kevin Spacey as the professor and puppet master who puts to work his maths whizzes counting cards and dodging security men.

Our naive broke genius Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) is lured from the geek and narrow by the promise of money for nothing – a message delivered by shapely calculus cohort Jill Taylor (a fizzing Kate Bosworth).
They stay one step ahead of old school security guard Cole Williams (Laurence Fishburne) until greed and in-fighting inevitably challenge their run of good fortune.

Few twists and turns but the story is delivered well and is not without a couple of aces up its sleeve. Giles Broadbent

BOOK
Family Cookbook 2008 Annabel Karmel
5/5

Annabel Karmel is to mums and dads what Warren Buffet is to Wall Street traders – a saint, a guru, the answer to their prayers.

Since publishing her first book back in 1989 this self-taught child food expert has thrown a lifeline to the millions of parents coping with food-challenged offspring.

Her latest venture, the Annabel Karmel Family Cookbook Winter & Christmas 2008 bookazine (you guessed it, a cross between a book and a magazine) sees Annabel at her best.

Beautifully shot and edited, it features a mouthwatering array of easy-to-follow seasonal recipes under headers such as Lunchbox, Bonfire Night and World Food. Recipes include such savoury delights as Mexican Chicken-stuffed baked potatoes and sesame beef stir fry and sweet treats such as peanut butter bears and Annabel’s apricot cookies.

And, in true Annabel-style, there’s plenty of tips and guidance on how to smuggle in those child-unfriendly ingredients.

No prizes for guessing what the latest buzz is at NCT classes.
Lucia Blash

Full interview with Annabel Karmel

GAME
Left 4 Dead
4/5

Left 4 Dead is an online co-operative survival horror shoot ’em up for four players, set in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Fast-moving, sharp-clawed 28 Days Later-style zombies, at that.

Plus a selection of even more fearsome, formidable infected foes, to boot. Why has no-one thought of this before?

Not to worry, though; because with Valve – the team behind seminal shooter series Half Life, no less – at the helm, Left 4 Dead should deliver a scary, addictive experience to do the concept justice.

Brilliantly, no two times you play Left 4 Dead will be the same. The AI system will actually note your progress and skill level, and alter the challenge accordingly – randomly spawning the enemies and weapons that will make for a fun challenge.

With shotguns, rifles, Molotov cocktails and more to use, team-mates watching your back and hordes of undead thirsting for your blood, Left 4 Dead should be right at the top of your must-play list. Out November 21.
Mark Scott, GAME