In addition to the tat that is passing for new releases this week, two other titles were released yesterday.
First up is Spartacus: Gods Of The Arena, a 6 part prequel mini series to the events in Blood and Sand. This wasn’t the original plan from the show runners. As Star Andy Whitfield was battling cancer at the time, he took some time out. Sadly he lost that battle and he passed away last month. He made for a very charismatic lead and gave a great performance, he will be sorely missed, the support for his family since his passing has been overwhelming. He was just 39 years old.

Spartacus the TV series is very adult, sex scenes verge on the soft-core pornography at times, they all swear more or less every other line and the ropey CG blood does grate after a while. Some have labelled it 300 the series and that isn’t an unfair comparison. Surprisingly it’s a lot of fun, people plot against each other and the over the top fight scenes are slowed down to a nano second.

It’s not a patch on the superb ‘Rome’ but it does the job. Let’s call it what it is, a guilty pleasure. Gods of The Arena sees the return of John Hannah, Lucy Lawless and many original characters. It won’t gain any new fans but if you enjoyed Blood and Sand then you will love this.

Ryan Phillippe stars in The Bang Bang Club, despite the daft title it isn’t about a wife swapping club, it’s about photographers in South Africa. I spent a solid 5 minutes wondering why I had never heard of it. Then I watched the trailer and worked out why. When the trailer for a movie does nothing but make you sigh and become dismayed with the state of the film industry, it’s not a good sign.

Phillippe is, or rather was a good actor, Cruel Intentions, Crash, Way of The Gun to name but 3 movies he has excelled in. Why does he seem incapable of getting a good part these days? Ryan, sack your agent!

Both DVD’s are out now.