September 22nd, 2006
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Ian W |
Music Reviews |
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In 1984 I was nineteen years old and heavily into American rock. Springsteen and Mellencamp (still Cougar then) were the artists whose LP’s were wearing out the needle on my record deck.
Yes I said LP’s. This is a tale that starts in ancient times before shiny metal discs and long before music downloads. When PC referred to a police constable and in the office where I worked the only windows were the ones you spent the day staring through while you daydreamed of a less mundane existence, one filled with fast cars, beautiful girls and endless highways.
So a Scottish pop group playing songs with references to the likes of Norman Mailer and Leonard Cohen wasn’t something I’d usually buy. Yet there was something about Lloyd Cole’s laid back, bordering on morose, delivery that appealed to me almost from the minute I heard “Perfect Skin,” the first single from his debut album with the Commotions. I picked up the album on the strength of that single, and the fact that I was intrigued by the title. Rattlesnakes sounded more like something my American rock idols would put out; after all, there weren’t any rattlers in Glasgow.
That album is still one of my all time favourites and while many of the references went over my head at the time (‘she looks like Eve Marie Saint in On the Waterfront’) his ability to deliver a lyric that could cut with rapier sharpness didn’t (‘must you tell me all your secrets when its hard enough to love you knowing nothing.’) Catchy upbeat pop music with literate lyrics and a downbeat delivery was now the order of the day on my phonograph.
September 18th, 2006
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Ian W |
TV Reviews |
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Ricky Gervais’s comedy series Extras made a welcome return to British TV screens on Thursday 14th September. The series follows the misadventures of Andy Millman and Maggie Jacobs, two would-be actors who despite their best efforts can’t seem to rise above the level of extra.
Or can they? The end of last season saw Andy sell the idea for a sitcom to the BBC and this episode picks up pretty much where we left off, with the first episode of When the Whistle Blows about to be filmed in front of a live studio audience.
Yet things are not as bright as they may seem for Andy. The BBC wants alterations to his work of comic genius to broaden its appeal and then there are last minute cast changes. There are shades of Gervais’s own problems with the BBC here, over what channel the show would air on. They wanted the mass appeal of BBC1, he refused to do a second series unless they showed it on the more ‘arty’ BBC2, comparing appearing on BBC1 to being a door to door salesman. Ricky won but he had the success of The Office behind him,. Andy’s not so lucky. Parallel to this we get to see Maggie, still working as an extra this time on a legal romcom starring Orlando Bloom.
Ricky Gervais is on fine form as Andy torn between success and his principles and the wonderful Ashley Jensen shines as Maggie. How can you not love a woman who can’t see the appeal of Mr Bloom?
September 13th, 2006
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Ian W |
DVD Reviews |
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The Movies
Jess Franco! A name to strike fear into the heart of any true cinephile. He’s been called Spain’s answer to Ed Wood and manages to live down to that billing extremely well and yet, for lovers of trash cinema there’s often much to enjoy in a Franco film. With titles like Swedish Nympho Slaves and Diary of a Nymphomaniac you’re not really expecting another Citizen Kane. And how can you not want to see Killer Barbys vs. Dracula?
This second release in Tartan’s Jess Franco Double Bill series pairs a couple of lesser-known offerings from the schlockmeister’s 70’s heyday.
First up is Devil’s Island Lovers from 1974. One of Franco’s preoccupations, particularly in the 70’s, was with imprisoned women. Caged Women (aka Barbed Wire Dolls in the US), Women Behind Bars and Ilsa, the Wicked Warden all came from his fevered mind. Devil’s Island Lovers is one of his earliest entries in the genre.
A fictional island’s corrupt governor who lusts after the girl, Beatriz, frames her and her lover for murder. The plot doesn’t really make a lot of sense, it’s just there to get the girl into the prison, although it takes almost half an hour to get there. The main reason for this is the flashback nature of the narrative, it’s told from the perspective of the couples’ lawyer as his investigations begin to uncover what happened to the young lovers.
September 11th, 2006
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Ian W |
DVD Reviews |
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The Movie
I first came across Parkour, or Free Running as it’s also been called, in the British TV documentary Jump London in 2003. It was an amazing film, charting the history of the sport/art as well as showing it in action around some London landmarks and I remember thinking that it would work well in a film. The highly successful French producer/director/writer Luc Besson had the same idea two years before me when he came up with Yamakasi (2001.) He only provided the basic idea for that film but in 2004, he returned to the sport this time coming up with District B13.
The French seem to have a thing for loose remakes of John Carpenter films; Florent Emilio Siri made The Nest (2002) that had much in common with Assault on Precinct 13, and District B13 is a French take on Carpenter’s Escape from New York. What sets these films apart from Hollywood-style remakes is that they only take the basic idea and use it as a springboard to create a new and exciting story.
The year is 2010 and the French government have walled in the most crime infested areas of the major cities. The worst of these is B13, though it’s not without its decent citizens and one such is Leito a man doing his best to clean up the streets he lives in. Sadly, the local Police aren’t looking to do the same and it’s Leito who finds himself in prison.
September 10th, 2006
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Ian W |
DVD Viewing Journal |
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Psycho
Hitchcock’s classic showed all the masters usual flair for suspense but with a touch of the macabre not found in his previous work. Anthony Perkins is so good as Norman Bates he’ll be forever remembered for the role.
This was the first film to take its inspiration from real life ‘Psycho’ Ed Gein but far from the last.
The Barbarian and the Geisha
One of John Wayne’s most underrated films; he plays Townsend Harris, the first US consul to Japan. While certain liberties are taken with the real life events (the Geisha Harris falls in love with was only 17 for one) it has has an authentic air thanks to its predominantly Japanese cast. This was unusual for the time, only two years before we had Marlon Brando made up to look oriental in The Teahouse of the August Moon, and it says a lot for director John Huston that he didn’t go down that route.
Wayne and Huston apparently didn’t get on, even coming to blows but that in no way impacted on what appears on screen. It’s an epic love story beautifully filmed and superbly acted. It’s told from the perspective of the Geisha played by Eiko Ando who does a terrific job, hard to believe she never made another film.
The Longest Day
This is a film about big stars and big spectacle and when it sticks to that it works well. However, its attempts at small-scale human drama fall mostly flat although there is one moment at the end that works extremely well (although that’s thanks to one of the aforementioned big stars.)
September 5th, 2006
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Ian W |
Movie Reviews |
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Take a bunch of stock British sitcom characters and put them in a horror movie, that’s the basic concept behind Christopher Smith’s new horror comedy.
After an opening sequence that features a man and two beautiful women being chased through some woods by an unknown assailant we’re introduced to our main cast. The sales team of a multi-national weapons manufacturer are on their way to a luxury lodge in
Eastern Europe for a team building exercise. Following a disagreement with their non-English speaking coach driver, they find themselves abandoned by the roadside. Deciding to walk the rest of the way they end up at what Richard, the team leader assumes at first to be the lodge but it is anything but luxurious.
For most of this first half hour, with the exception of the film’s first scene that seems to be there to let you know this is, in fact, a horror movie, the film plays very much like a standard sitcom and an average one at that. But thankfully things take a darker turn as they realise that, not only is this not their planned destination, but there’s someone out in the woods who may be trying to kill them.
This is where the film finds its feet, as it marries graphic violence with side splitting black humour, and this is a very violent film make no mistake about it. Many of the cast meet extremely unpleasant ends, but then that’s one of the film’s charms. How many TV comedies have you seen where you wish the cast would all die horribly? I know I’ve seen a few, and this film gives you the pleasure of seeing such people meet a sticky end.
September 3rd, 2006
Posted by
Ian W |
Movie Reviews |
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Lets get one thing out of the way from the start: This is a Bad movie. It’s also a very well made and extremely entertaining one.
The plot is simple : an F.B.I. agent (Samuel L. Jackson) is escorting an important witness from Hawaii to L.A. The diabolical bad guy comes up with the cunning plan to smuggle a crate of snakes onto the plane and release them mid flight (bet Osama wishes he’d thought of that one.) Jackson and the rest of the passengers must try to stay alive until they reach their destination. That’s about it for the plot.
This is essentially a modern take on the 70’s Airport series with added scares. The characters are all stereotypes; the celebrity, the ditsy blonde complete with pet dog, the newlyweds, the flirty stewardess…you get the idea. Thankfully, director David R. Ellis realises this and uses it to the film’s advantage, taking some of the viewers expectations and turning them on their head, while playing others for laughs.
The actors do a competent job considering they’re not exactly given well-rounded characters to play, although only Jackson and Julianna Margulies really make much of an impression. Margulies hasn’t exactly set the world alight since leaving ER six years ago (something of a mystery to me as I think she’s a terrific actress) so hopefully her role as the ’spunky stewardess’ will lead to better things. She manages to turn a cardboard character into a likeable human being and the fact you’re rooting for her to live to see the end credits shows how successful she is.
