The first rule of Fight Club is.....

OK guess what?  Yup its time for another review on this blog which is well over 100 posts now, so I'm quite impressed with my prolific level (although perhaps not the overall quality maybe??) so far.  So enough of all that time to look at my next review which is David Fincher's dark comedy, Fight Club, starring Edward Norton and Brad Pitt, so let's go....

Right so the story is set around a nameless insomniac (Norton, although for the purposes of the plot I will call him Jack as he refers to some magazine articles about a man named Jack during the film) who is a travelling employee for an automobile company.  After six months of insomnia, Jack decides on the advice of a doctor to try and go along and see a support group for testicular cancer to see what real pain is.  Jack goes along and pretends that he too is a sufferer and it ends up giving him the emotional release he needs to relieve his insomnia and he shares a bond with one of the group's members, a former bodybuilder with large man boobs (or bitch tits as Jack puts it!), Bob (Meat Loaf).  However after attending so many different support groups for other diseases, Jack soon encounter a woman, Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter) who is trying the same for unknown reasons (well acutally she claims it cheaper than a movie and there is free coffee!).  However Jack realising that Marla too is lying it means he can no longer feel the same release as before so his insomnia returns.  Jack however on confronting Marla eventually agrees to split the classes between them so they won't end up being at the same group together.

After this Jack meets a travelling salesman named Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) a rather mysterious and enigmatic character, on a plane flight.  Jack however on returning to his apartment arrives to find it has been destroyed in a explosion, leaving Jack no choice but to contact Tyler (who gave him his business card).  Jack meets up with Tyler at a bar and afterwards Tyler asks Jack to hit him as hard as he can, which Jack reluctantly does, which soon ends up in a fistfight, and he ends up staying with Tyler at an old dilapidated house.  Later on Jack and Tyler engage in more fights outside the bar, which soon attracts the attention of other men who soon get involved in the fights aswell.  After this Tyler and Jack set up their own fight club in the basement of the bar (Moe's tavern) where Tyler sets down the rules to the members.  As time passes fight club grows as more members join.  Later on Marla calls Jack and tells him she took an overdose, but he hangs up the phone and leaves, but Tyler picks up the receiver and goes to save her, by having sex with her in order to keep her awake "all night" (as Marla puts it!).

The next day Jack is shocked to find Marla in the kitchen and asks what she is doing there, and Marla storms out confused and angry.  Tyler then tells Jack that he can't talk to Marla about him or fight club and if he does, then they're done.  As fight club grows it moves out of the basement and Tyler develops a new project called "Project Mayhem" in which the members committ acts of vandalism against corporate and materialist culture.  Jack however starts to grow discontent with Tyler as he wants become a larger part in Project mayhem as he feels sidelined by Tyler.  Tyler soon however disappears and Jack wakes up to find that he has gone from the house, only to find that it has now been occupied by members of Project Mayhem.  At this point some of the members of the group carry one of the members in, Bob who was shot dead by the police after an attempt to vandalise a coffee store.  Jack is appalled by the project and Bob's death and flees the house to try and track down Tyler, which takes him on a journey which will reveal a surprise that he never would expect...

Based on the book of the same written by Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club is a darkly entertaining film, which on one hand can be seen as a message against corporate greed and modern materialism, and on the other it can be seen as one man's descent into madness.  The film itself revels in its dark humour and Fight Club itself is very much an exclusive club for men only, and Tyler makes it clear in the club's eight rules, specifically in the second that "you do NOT talk about Fight Club!".  The narrator (or Jack) is the everyman who struggles with the mundanity of his own life and in meeting Tyler he finds an answer to this, although it soon leads him on a dark chaotic path.  Tyler on the other hand is the charismatic, handsome and muscular figure and an image that Jack would like to see of himself.  And fight club itself becomes the expression of every man's rage against society and shallowness of the modern life, which starts out as a group of men fighting every week, as Jack puts it "every weekend, we were finding something out".  But as the film moves onto Project Mayhem by this time Fight Club is no longer about "finding something out" it becomes more about spitting out at reality itself, and that point Jack and Tyler's partnership starts to fall apart, as clearly they both want different things. 

Getting onto the performances they are pretty much top drawer, as the two leads are both great in their roles.  Starting with Edward Norton as the insomnical narrator, who is great in his role and he plays him with an almost droning monotone at times.  Norton's narration does indeed drive the film, and he has his fair shair of good dialogue, such as when he reads from the medical magazines he finds in Tyler's abandoned house and he reads "I am Jack's medulla oblungata" and "I am Jill's nipples".  And he refers to the third person style of Jack, in some of his other scenes with lines such as "I am Jack's smirking revenge" and "I am Jack's complete lack of surprise" and "I am Jack's raging bile duct!".  One of my favourite lines though is when he and Tyler sell soap in a store, which they made up from fat taken from a liopsuction clinic, and Jack says "we were selling women their own fat asses back to them.  It was beautfiul".  Also one of Ed's funniest lines in the film is when Marla first invades the testicular cancer group and he says angrily in his narration "this chick, Marla Singer did not have testicular cancer!".  Also later on when he tries to convince some cops at a police station, who are also members of fight club, to abort one of Tyler's missions, they keep saying "he said you would say that!".  And in the subsquent scene Jack runs for his life as he narrates "I ran until my muscles burned and my veins pumped battery acid.  Then I run some more!".  Another funny moment is where Jack and Tyler walk on the streets and he says which celebrity he would fight "Shatner.  I'd fight William Shatner!".  And lastly I will mention the scene where Jack first meets Bob and he narrates that "Bob, had bitch tits, in the way you would think as God's as big!"     

Brad Pitt here also delivers one of his best performances as the enigmatic Tyler Durden, who is the polar opposite of Jack in every way, in terms of his looks, physique, intelligence and ambition.  Brad clearly must have been revelling in this role as he delivers so many of his lines in such as charismatic and commanding form.  Brad has quite a few memorable ones, and one that comes to mind is when he addresses the camera and says "you are not your job, you are not how much money you have in the bank, you are not your fucking car keys.  We are the all singing all dancing crap of the world!".  One of Brad's best scenes in fact comes when he expresses his disappointment over how the members of Fight Club have been breaking the first two rules of the club and he gives a speech about modern life, and he says "we are the middle children of history, with no war, no great depression.  Our war is a spirital war, our great depression is our lives".  Brad also has some funny moments when he rides a bike around the dilapidated house as Jack reads out the medical magazine articles and he trips and falls off the bike.  Later on Brad also has a funny scene when he has Bob stand outside their house for three days, and he refuses to let him in by saying "you're too old fat man, and you're tits are too big, get the fuck off my porch!".

Helena Bonham Carter is also really good in her role as the masochistic Marla Singer, who thrives off living life dangerously.  Helena also get's some of the film's best lines, especially in her first scene with Ed when he confronts Marla over being an imposter in the support groups, and he says to her she can't attend the testicular cancer group and she says "well technically I have more right to be there than you, as you still have your balls!".  The wild noises of her shagging with Tyler are also really funny, as the scene in the film where she climaxes loudly as Jack wearily arrives back home from work.  This scene later prompts a line where she meets with Jack in a diner and she says to him "there are things I like about you, you're smart, you're funny, and your spectacular in bed!".  I also like the scene where Marla argues with Jack after a night off lurvemaking with Tyler and she says to him "you are such a nut case I can't even keep up!" and she sings "gotta get off, gotta get off this merry-go-round!".  Helena also was given a line which the 20th century fox studio execs balked at the notion of keeping in, but in the end it was kept as Marla says after her first sex session with Tyler "I haven't been fucked like that since grade school!".   

Of the other supporting performances, Meat Loaf provides an amusing and rather poignant performance as the bloated Bob, a former bodybuilder, who now has testicular cancer, and finds out about Fight Club.  Meat has quite a funny moment when he meets up with Jack again on the street as he is eating a box of doughnuts, he chucks one away as he greets him with a bear hug.  Also during Jack and Bob's fight at fight club, Bob nearly crushes Jack to death in a bear hug, and afterwards he asks Jack "I didn't hurt did I?" and Jack says "yeah actually you did!".  Jared Leto also provides a small but striking cameo as one of the good looking members of Fight Club whom out of jealousy one night, Jack beats to a pulp, as he "felt like destroying something beautiful" and we later see with his face left disfigured.

Direction wise, David Fincher does a great job technically speaking and he gives the film a pale green tint (which was done by the film been given a bleach bypass, a technique which was also used in The Matrix (I think!).  He also makes good use of the occassonal flash up blips of Tyler Durden early on the film before he makes his proper appearance, as well as the winding camera work in the film's title sequence (which is basically a CGI impression of the inside of Jack's throat as the camera moves out to show that Tyler has a gun in his mouth).  Although the film's violence is strong, it never glorifies violence, and if anything it does the opposite, as the men fight in a dirty and grimy basement.  Also worthy of mention is the Dust Brothers quirky score, which is a mixture of techno, funk and samples, and there some really good stand out tracks in the film, one of the best being the title theme.

As for the film's flaws were there are one or two, the main for me is that at times the film threatens to choke itself on its own cleverness, and the dialogue as witty as it is, is also quite annoying at times, as if it is almost self-congratulatory.  I also have a problem with Tyler's character (which is not a slight on Brad's excellent performance) as he is basically an arrogant pretentious arse, who spends most of his time spouting out his anti-establishment philosophy such as "we are God's unwanted children, so be it!" and "listen up maggots, you are not a unique or beautiful snow flake, you are the same decaying organic matter as everything else".  And by the time that Jack "separates" himself from Tyler, you feel almost glad when he is gone in that respect.  And getting on to what is essentially a PLOT SPOILER, I also think the timeline between Jack acting as Tyler, and being himself becomes quite blurred especially as one of the members of fight club says that "Mr Durden sleeps only one hour an night".  This is especially noticed in the scene where just find out that Tyler and Jack are both the same person, and Jack falls unconscious as Tyler takes over, but as Jack comes to he finds that he has been checked out of a hotel, does that mean he went downstairs, checked out and went back upstairs to sleep!  Also when he wakes up after their car crash in the house, and finds that Tyler has gone and that Tyler has apparently set up Fight Clubs all over the country, if Jack is indeed Tyler, then how long was Tyler supposedly away for???  And that being the case did he do all that and come back, have a nap at the house and then be Jack again!  At this point Jack becomes an even more insignificant figure, and as the film nears its end its all about a battle for control.  Also the timeline logic of Marla meeting with Jack is also a bit hazy, as he gives her his telephone number to swap nights for the support groups, and she ends up phoning him at Tyler's house, which means he must have given her the number of Tyler's house, yet at that point he hadn't even met Tyler yet!  So overall you could say one of the main flaws is indeed the chronology of the film's events are a bit out of sync.      

But despite that Fight Club is a very entertaining black comedy, which might not be to everyone's taste, but if you are a fan of David Fincher then you are sure not to be disappointed.

And with that I shall leave it there.   

Bullshit, Mr Han man!!

Its that time where I get back on the keyboard and compose another review, so this one is a classic action film from the 70s, Enter the Dragon starring Bruce Lee, and with that let's have a look.....

So starting with the usual plot stuff, the film begins with martial artist Lee (Bruce Lee of course) who is based in Hong Kong at the Shaolin temple, is approached by Mr Braithwaite (Geoffrey Weeks) a member of British intelligence.  Braithwaite tells Lee about a tournament that is coming up that is run by a man named Han (Shih Kien) and that Han is rumoured to be involved in drug trafficking and prostitution, Han himself was a former Shaolin student.  Braithwaite asks that Lee attend the tournament undercover in order to try and gain evidence of Han's illegal activities, which Lee agrees to.  However before Lee goes, his teacher tells him that Han's bodyguard O'Hara (Bob Wall) was involved in the death of his sister Su Lin (Angela Mao).  Lee decides to go to the island intent on taking revenge for his sister's death.

At the island Lee meets up with other martial artists who have been invited which includes Roper (John Saxon) a playboy gambler, and Williams (Jim Kelly) an African American who is on the run after assaulting two white racist policemen, both of whom are good friends and get a scam going on taking bets on their fights.  Lee at the island finds a Chinese girl Mei Ling (Betty Chung) who is an undercover agent sent by Braithwaite, although Mei tells Lee that she has been unable to leave the island due to Han's strict observation.  Later that night Lee starts to investigate around the island and finds a passage that takes him to an underground base where drugs are being manufactured and tested on prisoners.  Lee however runs into some guards but he takes them down with ease.

The next day however Han has the guards that Lee incapacitated, killed by his sadistic chief bodyguard, Bolo (Bolo Yeung).  Lee takes on O'Hara in his first tournament match, who Lee totally outclasses, and O'Hara out of anger tries to attack Lee with some smashed wine bottles, but Lee kills O'Hara by snapping his neck.  After the matches have been played, Han asks to see Williams (as Williams was seen outside at night as well, although he was out just for some fresh air) and asks him who else was outside with him.  Williams angrily refuses to tell him and say he wishes to leave the island, at that point Han's henchmen arrive, who Williams takes down with ease, but then Han and Williams engage in hand to hand combat, and Han ends up gaining the upper hand and results in beating Williams to death with his iron prosthetic hand.  Later that night Lee makes a second attempt to go down to the underground base where he investigates and finds further evidence and he sends a message to Braithwaite, but an alarm is set off, where Lee fights off many of Han's guards, after this he is lured into a trap and captured.  After this Lee has to face the consequences of his actions as he must try and find a way to take Han down and escape the island.

There is no doubt that Enter the dragon was not only Bruce Lee's last film, but it was also his best, and it was a great pity that his untimely death, at the age of 32 (having suffered a cerebral edema on 20 July 1973), occurred just shortly before the film was released on 26 July, which would have propelled him into worldwide stardom.  The film also naturally features some terrific fight sequences and Lee's fitness and flexibility are just incredible (although Lee did use a stunt double for some of the sequences, such as the backflip he uses on O'Hara).  Lee also partially directed a sequence of the film, namely the opening sequence at the Shaolin temple and took a big hand in the writing of the story and the script.  The film also featured several real life martial artists such as Bob Wall, who played O'Hara, Jim Kelly who played the cocky Williams, and Bolo Yeung who was the sadistic muscle bound Bolo.  Enter the dragon also features an early onscreen appearance from Jackie Chan who also performed various stunts in the film, and is one of Lee's victims as he has his neck snapped by Lee in the fight scene with the guards in the underground base.

Performance wise Enter the dragon isn't really about top class acting, its more about the action, and you could say that the acting takes a bit of a back seat to that.  But despite that there is no question that this is Bruce Lee's film, and while he wasn't a great actor, he was a great film star, and he presence and charisma are really strong throughout the film.  Lee has various highlights in the film especially in his action sequences where he fights off Han's guards in the underground base, probably being the main one.  Lee also get's some good lines of dialogue, such as when Lee teaches a lesson to one of his young students, Lao, at the start of the film, and he Lao performs a move, which Lee says to him "Yes! How did that feel to you?" and Lao replies "Let me think..." and Lee smacks him on the head and says "don't think think! Feel!  It is like a finger pointing away to the moon!" and Lao looks at Lee's finger, who smacks him on the head again "don't concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory!".  Also later on when he is about to fight against O'Hara who takes a wooden board and chops it in half, to which Lee says "boards don't hit back!".  Although amusingly in this scene Lee, who previously instructed Lao to never take his eyes off his opponent even when you bow to them, didn't heed his own advice as he took his eyes off O'Hara when he bowed to him!

The supporting performances are not bad at all either, and John Saxon is pretty good as the American playboy, Roper, and he has quite a few amusing moments in the film, one such scene is where he has a liaison with Tania (Anna Caphri) one of Han's ladies, and Tania gives him a massage in bed and he says "boy am I finding out about myself!".  Roper also has a good scene with Han just before he shows him around his underground base, he asks him to place his head on a guillotine as an act of faith, but he refuses, and instead Han places his cat on it, which Roper takes off, and Han pulls a chain which reveals the guillotine to be a lift the takes the down, and Roper replies "faked out, again!".  Saxon's fight sequence as Roper against Bolo is also really good as they start off fighting martial arts style but then Roper outdoes Bolo with some fist fighting (although given Bolo's big physical frame it seems unlikely that Roper would defeat him!).

Jim Kelly is also pretty good in his role as Williams, the cocky American martial artist, and he has a few good scenes, the main probably is his last where he confronts Han in his office and he says "Mr Han, suddenly I would like to leave your island!" and Han replies "that is not possible" and Williams says that infamous line "bullshit Mr Han, man!!".  Williams is certainly the most vain character in the film as Han asks how will he deal with defeat when it comes and he replies "I don't waste my time with it, because I'll be too busy looking good!" (which is ironic because he doesn't in the end).  And finally Shih Kien is excellent in his role as the villainous Han, although it is not his own voice that appears on the soundtrack, but it was in fact the voice of Keye Luke, who played Kato in the original Green Hornet films and later on played Mr Wing in the two Gremlins films among many other roles.

Direction wise Robert Clouse does a fine job with the Enter the dragon, although his job is primarily a perfunctory one in which he keeps the action and the flow of the film going more than anything else.  But as a final note it has to be said that one of the film's most notable features is of course its music score by Lalo Schifrin which is excellent and it mixes both funky and traditional musical themes, that fit the films Asian and American styles nicely.

So that's it for my look at Enter the dragon, which remains one of the most popular and entertaining martial arts films of modern cinema and it was a fine swansong for the incredible talent that Bruce Lee had as a martial arts practitioner and a film star.

And with that I will leave ya there, wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!    

Spearhead and the terror of the autons

Well there has been quite a few Doctor Who posts on this blog so why not add another, which was originally on my tennis blog, and was based on the Mannequin mania boxset, which featured the two auton stories from the Jon Pertwee era, Speahead from space and Terror of the autons.  So might as well gie it a look...

Starting off with Spearhead from Space, its a classic story, which begins with the Doctor (Jon Pertwee) landing in the TARDIS on Earth in late 20th century having newly regenerated.  The Doctor is taken to Asbridge cottage hospital, where the medical staff are surprised at his alien phsyiology, and one of the hospital porters overhears a doctor speaking about it on the telephone.  Meanwhile Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart (Nicholas Courtney) recruits scientist, Elizabeth Shaw (Caroline John) to help with the investigation of a shower meteorites that have landed nearby.  The Brigadier on hearing the description of the Doctor who was found next to his police box, intruiges to go to the hospital to see him, but he does not recognise him, but the Doctor regains consciousness long enough to speak to him as he recognises who he is.  After this a strange man named Channing (Hugh  Burden) and some of his men attempt to kidnap the Doctor, who escapes them, but is shot by a UNIT tropper.

The Doctor is then taken back to hospital where the doctor there suggests that the Doctor is in a self-induced coma.  The Doctor eventually recovers and this time successfully escapes and drives over to the Brigadier at UNIT HQ where he explains that he has changed appearance but has lost his memory, and on seeing the shard of recovered meteorite he agrees to help Liz and the Brigadier with their investigations.  Meanwhile the man Channing turns out to be an alien from a race called the Nestenes and he uses plastic based sentient life forms, the Autons to recover the meteorites, which are in fact energy units wich will be used to create the ultimate life form that will conquer the Earth.  Channing also operates from a toy plastics factory where he has a mental hold over the owner, Hibbert (John Woodnutt).  The Doctor meanwhile back at the UNIT HQ, who has had his TARDIS transported there by the Brig's men, persuades Liz to get the key from the Brigadier, and the Doctor tries to take off in the TARDIS only to find it doesn't work as the Time Lords have changed the dematerialisation codes.  The Doctor afterwards agrees to carry on helping the Brig and Liz in fighting the Auton attacks which soon leads them to the plastics factory where they must stop Channing and the Autons from conqeruing the Earth. 

There is little doubt that Speahead from space is a really good opener for the Pertwee era, and it features a fine cast, and introduces of course Liz Shaw as played by Caroline John, his companion who is a highly intelligent and capable scientist.  Unlike most companions Liz hadn't as much need as the others to continually ask what was going on, and this did cause a bit of concern for Barry Letts (who at this stage was still to take over as producer of the show) as he felt it left less explanation to the viewers.  Nevertheless Liz is a strong companion and makes a welcome change from the screamers that the Doctor would have over the years.  On the supporting cast, it also features a fine performance from John Woodnutt as the weak minded Hibbert who allows the Nestenes to control his mind, and of course a very creepy and eeiry performance from Hugh Burden as the icy cold and calculating Channing.

Another couple of great successes of the story were that for a start the story was the only one to be shot entirely on film, which helped give the show a far more cinematic feel, not to mention it didn't look so low budget either.  The other is of course the autons themselves, they make for great baddies, and their window shop dummy masks are very creepy and effective, they are also complimented well by Brian Hodgson's eeiry sound effects, as they signal in on their prey.  The story also features a really good score from the show's regular composer Dudley Simpson, which is more orchestral based than previous scores.  As for the story's flaws were there aren't too many, but one big niggle I have of the story is the ridiculous looking octopus that comes out of the tank at the end which nearly throttles the doctor, with its big rubbery tentacles!  

As for Spearhead from Space's documentary on the DVD it is quite interesting although it deals morely with the transition of the show from black and white days into colour, as well as the show being under threat of cancellation.  The commentaries are also fine, with the late Nicholas Courtney and also now late Caroline John bantering away nicely and fondly remembering the shooting of the story.  The other commentary (more recently recorded) with Terrance Dicks and the then producer Derrick Sherwin is no less interesting, although Sherwin does come across as being quite bitter at times over his treatment at the BBC.  And just this year the story was re-released on Blu-ray which marked the first ever story to remastered in HD from the original series.  The transfer itself stacks up fairly well although I don't think its a massive upgrade from the DVD version, which looked pretty good anyway, and it is also in the bordered 4:3 format, as you get horizontal borders either side of the screen, which is a bit annoying but what can you could do.  However the Blu-ray does feature a couple of new featurettes covering the careers of the late Jon Pertwee and Caroline John, who sadly passed away just last year (which features her husband and fellow performer, Geoffrey Beevers, her sister, brother and her hot daughter!).    

Moving onto Terror of the Autons, this story was another landmark in Doctor Who's history as it introduced as well as the UNIT family of Captain Mike Yates, the Brig and Sergeant Benton, it also introduced his new companion Jo Grant, and his arch enermy The Master.  And the story begins with the Master (Roger Delgado) landing on Earth where he steals the only existing Nestene energy unit and uses it to transmit a signal into space from a radio telescope.  The Doctor and his new assistant Jo Grant (Katy Manning) investigate the theft of the energy unit and soon arrive at the radio telescope where the Doctor receives a warning from a Time Lord that the Master has arrived on Earth.  The Master meanwhile has taken over a plastics factory, run by Rex Farrel (Michael Wisher) who he uses his powers of hypnosis to control him, and creates Autons at the factory.  The Master makes several attempts to kill the Doctor and Jo all of which fail, firstly by hypnotising Jo into carriyng a bomb back to UNIT HQ, and then also by trying to strangle him by using a radio controlled signal to cause the telephone flex wrap around the Doctor's neck.  The Doctor also dedcues that the Master who has been using the Autons to distribute plastic daffodils around the country, plans to set off a radio signal, one of which shoots out a plastic cover which nearly suffocates Jo but he saves her, and there are reports of deaths around the country.  The Doctor then travels back to the radio telescope where the Master is intent on re-opening the signal to let the Auton invasion through, and its up to the Doc to stop him and put an end to it once and for all. 

It has to be said that Terror of the autons isn't quite as impressive as Spearhead from space, and there are are certain less successful aspects to the story, for starters the autons themselves aren't as impressive and their masks are pretty naff in comparison as they just look like silver or marble based.  The Master is of course one of the best enemies to come out of the programme in a long time, but despite spending most of the story aiding to help the Nestenes invade Earth, he changes his allegiances to help the Doctor prevent them coming with the snap of one sentence from the Doctor when he says "do you really think that thing will distinguish between us and them??".  And it seems a bit of a copout way of finsihing out the story in order to stop the baddies from coming through.  But ultimately perhaps the Master was doing what he felt he needed to do in order to save his own skin.  Another dodgy aspect of the story is the overuse of CSO (Colour Separartion Overlay) which was heavily used in the 1970s to superimpose backgrounds or to create background effects with people in shot.  OK to use it for certain background shots is fine, such as the Master climbing up the research centre tower, but he even goes as far as to use it to for a CSO kitchen!  I mean surely they could have built a kitchen set!! 

However despite it flaws, Terror of the autons still has alot going for it, and it saw changes in Doctor Who for the better, and if the series had continued on in the similar vein as it did in the previous season with alot of Quartermass styled doom and gloom it would have ended the show.  So Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks realised the show needed a change of tone and pace, and they did the right thing.  Terror also featured again some nice performances from the new cast, Richard Franklin does well as Captain Yates, as he plays him with a smooth charm.  Franklin has a funny line when saves the Doctor from being strangled by the flex of the telephone, and he says "sorry I cut off your connection!".  And yeah ok Katy Manning isn't the best actress in the world, but she made Jo Grant her own and a fairly endearing character, despite some cheesy corny moments in her peformance in this story, especially when the Doctor tells her not to go anywhere near the ugly puppet that they took from one of the Master's victims, "I won't go near it, yuughhh" she says.  Coh!

But of course one of Terror of the Autons main successes is the Master played by Roger Delgado, who is terrific as the Doctor's nemesis.  Delgado brought a great deal of sly and sinsiter charm to the character while at the same time ensuring he displayed the Master's undefitigably evil nature. Although perhaps one of the weaknesses of the Season 8 of Doctor Who, which Terror is the first story of, is that they overused the Master a little too much as he appears in every story, which leaves less room for predictability in anticipating the real villain.  Mind you one talent the Master had for sure was his make-up artist skills as he must have spent plenty of time making up latex masks for his disguises!  Score wise, the regular composer Dudley Simpson provides a spooky music score, which is all done on syntheizers, and the Master's themes are very effective.  In fact the whole of the 8th season of the show was done using synthesizers, all scored by Dudley Simpson, who later complained to Barry Letts that he founded it exhausting having to perform the music that way, and in future seasons he resorted to using other musicians and more traditional instruments.  

On the DVD side of things there is a pleasant and informative commentary from Barry Letts, Terrance Dicks, Nick Courtney and of course Katy Manning.  However I have to say that Katy Manning does grate on your nerves after a while, I'm sure she is a nice person, but her continual use of her comical stupid helium type voice in between discussion is just irritating (and I wonder if she was making a feeble impersonation of Jon Pertwee in those moments!).  If only they had a silence button on her it would make things more easy!!  Anyway there is also a very good documentary on the DVD too about the making of Terror of the Autons, which features some cast interviews and Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks (marbled mouthed Terry!).   

So that's it for my double bill look at Speahead and Terror, both of which are solid and entertaining stories which are well worth watching if you are a fan of the originals show.

Till the next time, bye for now. 

The Apprentice final: NIKS and cup cakes

Time for my second (and last) post on the Apprentice, which will cover the final, which was between the last two women standing, Luisa and Leah, both of whom are different personalities with different business plans, and both of them were competing to become Lord Sugar's business partner. 

So in the final Lord Sugar gave them their final task which was launch their businesses and come up with a brand and a campaign to promote their business.  Luisa's plan was to sell to members of the baking trade, while Leah's was to set up a chain of cosmetic surgeons.  Both ladies also had to select from a list of previous candidates in the process, with Leah getting the pick of the bunch with Francesca, Myles, Alex and Uzma.  Luisa however was not happy with her choice of teammates especially as Leah had beat her to it for the candidates that she wanted, although she managed to get Neil and Natalie, she was less than happy with getting Jason and Zeeshaan. 

Despite any fears that Luisa wouldn't get on with her team, she actually did really well at working with them and they all got on well together, although her brand label design was a bit on the pink side and seemed to be aimed primary at the female market.  Leah on the other hand was actually a bit snappy with her team as she felt the pressure of the event, but she also did well at asserting herself and sticking to her decisions.  The brand for her business was however a bit bland looking and the same NIKS (which is of course skin backwards) in the feedback from people on the street was pretty negative, as NIKS sounded too close to a nick when you cut yourself shaving.  Leah then decided to say the name as the initials and the not the word, although team mates were not so happy the choice of name or the design of the label which was pretty straight forward and dull.

At the night of the presentations, Luisa went on first and she stumbled at the start of her pitch by fluffing her words, but she managed to recover it, although she was put on the spot when asked what her projections would be after five years and couldn't come up with a proper answer.  Luisa afterwards was in tears as she felt the pitch was terrible and didn't go down well, but her team mates reassured her.  Leah next however was in full control of her pitch as she was very professional, not to mention a bit clinical, although it did start with a rather cringeworthy dance from Francesca!  Leah did however end up disagreeing with the industry experts, who thought she was only looking at the smaller picture in the comestics industry, but Leah her area of expertise would be the most commercial and lucrative.  The industry experts afterward were impressed with different aspects of both pitches, but felt that Luisa didn't make it clear who she was targeting, and that Leah's presentation was a bit dry and clinical.

In the boardroom however it was down to Lord Sugar who he would choose as his business partner, and he weighed up the pros and cons of each candidate.  With Luisa he felt her business was definitely manageable and the easier of the two to deal with, however Lord Sugar was concerned that she already had three existing businesses and if she would show the full commitment to him.  Leah on the other hand, while her business plan was solid and interesting, Lord Sugar felt there was a great risk involved in going into the cosmetics market, which is highly competitive in itself, and also an area in which Lord Sugar had no experience in.  However after all the toing and frowing Lord Sugar made his decision and he decided to hire Leah as his business partner, which marked the first time in the series that a woman had won the series as a business partner.

So that's it for the Apprentice 2013, and personally I think Lord Sugar made the right choice, as Leah, despite being a bit of a cold fish in her personality at times, was more level headed and she had a solid plan, which she carried through very well.  And she comes across as being very professional and efficent, so I'm sure she will do very well with her business.  As for Luisa well while she had her annoying shortcomings in being arrogant and opionated, and she even called Jason "totally useless" when she looked at his profile when she was looking at the candidates to help her with her project, she also did well in working with them as a team.  Luisa also finally deserved a bit of sympathy after she fluffed her pitch and she broke down in tears afterwards as she felt she mucked it up, but Lord Sugar later said he felt her pitch was really good and she did well.  And to be fair to Luisa after character assassinating Jason for being "useless and the last person she wanted to call" she apologised to him on The Apprentice: you're hired especially as he said in the final episode that he felt honoured that she picked him to be in her team. (although let's face it, he was useless, mwah, mwah! ;-)).

Right so that's it for this year's The Apprentice, which was one of the most entertaining so far of the series, especially of the series that cover the business plan aspect of the show.

And that's it for now.     

Fargo: ohhh jeeeeeeez!!

Righty-ho I think its time for another review so I decided to go for a Cohen brothers film, and these fellas are no strangers in how to make a good film, so I've plumped for Fargo, which stands as one of their very best, and with that let's do the usual, look at the plot and take it from there...

OK so plot, the film begins with a dim-witted car salesman, Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) who is in financial trouble, who approaches two criminals, Carl Schowalter (Steve Buscemi) and Gaear Grimsrud (Peter Stormare) with the proposition to kidnap his wife, in which he will give them half the ransom money of $80,000.  Jerry intends to get the ransom money from his wealthy father in law, Wade Gustafson (Harve Presnell) but he tells him in reality that the ransom is $1,00000 which he intends to keep most for himself.  However on presenting a real estate deal to Wade, which he appears to interested in, Jerry tries to call off the kidnap by speaking to Shep Proudfoot (Steve Reevis) who put him in touch with Gaear, who tells him he has no contact number for him.  However on meeting with Wade about the deal, Wade intends to buy the property himself and just give Jerry a finder's fee, which leaves Jerry frustrated and angry.

However by this time Carl and Gaear have kidnapped Jerry's wife, Jean (Kirstin Rudrud) and once they are on the road, they are eventually pulled over by a Minnesota state police officer, as Carl did not have licence plates put on the car.  On speaking to the officer, Carl tries to bribe him, and the officer asks him to step out of the car, which prompts Gaear to shoot the officer dead, and he tells Carl to clear him off the road.  On trying to do so, a couple drive past witnessing Carl drag the body, and Gaear chases them down and as the couple's car crashes off the side of the road, Gaear shoots them both.  The deaths are soon investigated by local police chief Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) who is seven months pregnant.  Marge on her investigations questions two prostitutes that had sex with Carl and Gaear, and also she traces the car license plates to Jerry's car dealership and she interviews Jerry and also Shep, but she finds no further information.  Jerry meanwhile tries to convince Wade that the kidnappers only want to deal with him, but Wade turns this down and decides to confront them himself, which ends in disaster as he meets with Carl, demanding to do the trade only if his daughter is there, and instead Carl shoots Wade in the chest, who shoots him in the cheek, which prompts Carl to shoot Wade dead.  After this things spiral even more out of control as the film leads up to its dramatic climax.....

It has to be said that Fargo easily stands as one of the Cohen brothers finest films, as it is fused with their fine combination of dark humour and drama, which is found in most of their movies.  The film starts with the caption that the events are based on a true story, when in fact the characters and the story are fictional, although Cohen brothers did say that the events of film were actually based on true events from different cases, which they mixed into the story.  The Cohen brothers were also from Minnesota and here they almost poke fun at their native home state with how the locals speak with the phrases such as "yah, you betcha" and "ohh yah!" "oh jeez!" all the time, which at times almost seems like he is making the people look like a parody of themselves.  But the Cohen are never ones to shy away from making films about colourful characters, and he certainly has done that in the past, specifically with the South.

Moving onto the performances, well they are all superb, and the Cohen brothers always excel in getting the best out of their cast.  Starting with William H. Macy who is great as the not so bright car salesman, Jerry Lundegaard who thinks he can sort his financial troubles by having his own wife kidnapped, which of course turns out to be a surefire case for disaster.  Macy has his share of great moments in the film, especially where he throws tantrums when he is trying to scrub his snow and ice ridden car, and when he throws his office desk blotter high above his head and slams down on the desk.  And in a way Jerry is quite a pitiful character yet at the same time he is quite dispicable that he would be so stupid as to endanger his own wife's life and not just have the nerve to ask for the money from Wade (although he was right that Wade wouldn't give it up right enough).

Steve Buscemi is also great as Carl, the chatty and cynical criminal, who Jerry hires to kidnap his wife, and Buscemi has plenty of great scenes and lines of dialogue.  One of my favourites is when he is charged four dollars for when he drives into a parking lot to pick up another car and change the plates, and he tells the car park attendant "you think you are a big man there, sitting there with your shirt and tie??!  These are the limits of your life, man!" and throws the money at him "there's your four dollars, you pathetic piece of shit!".  Also when he first meets with Jerry and he doesn't get the idea of the business proposition Jerry is offering and he says "its like payin Peter to rob Paul, it doesn't make any sense, Jerry!".  And of course there is the scene when Carl makes the long drive up to Jerry's house and he tries to engage in a conversation with the very untalkative Gaear, and he says "ok two can play at that game, let's see how you like it?!  Total fuckin silence!".  Also Buscemi's geeky looks make him a subject of amusement throughout the film as some of the locals the describe him to the police say he was "kinda funny lookin, in just a general way!".   

Peter Stormare is also great in his role as the quiet and chilling sociopath Gaear Grimsrud who barely speaks throughout the film and conveys very little emotion with his deadpan expression.  Gaear could almost be compared in fact to Anton Chigurgh as he is also a cold remorseless killer (although Chigurgh is a bit more chatty!).  And while he doesn't have many lines of dialogue at all, I like his line after he shoots the police officer, Carl tried to bribe, and Gaear says "You'll take care of it! You're a smooth smooth, ya know.  Just clear him off the road.".  And yep a PLOT SPOILER is coming up, but one of his most chilling moments is also one of the most peversly amusing scenes in the film when he feeds Carl's chopped up body into a wood chipper, and you see him try to push one of Carl's feet down into the chipper using a piece of wood!

Frances McDormand is also excellent as Marge, the police chief in Brainerd who investigates the murders, and she is potrayed as a heavily pregnant woman, who is very capable at her job, and she spends half her time investigating and the other eating! ;-)  Frances's funny scene comes when she interivews the two hookers who had sex with Carl and Gaear and she asks what Carl looked like and they say "oh he was kinda funny lookin" and they all exchange "oh yah!" together while nodding their heads frantically.  And her scene with Gaear at the end when he has been arrested and she drives him to the station is great when she sadly muses over what he has done and says "there is more to life than a little money, ya know.  I just don't understand it."  And finally Harve Presnell is really good as Wade Gustafson, Jerry's wealthy and kranky father in law, and his best scene comes when he confronts Carl in the car park as he carries a gun and the suitcase full of money and he demands "where is my daughter, you damn punk! No Jean, no money!" and Carl shoots him and Wade gasps "ooohhhh jeeeez!".

As for the Cohen brothers well their direction and writing are pretty much faultless here and in Fargo they have drawn some amusing, chilling, and oddly endearing characters, which something they have always excelled at.  And one scene I will lastly mention as an example of this is when one of the Brainerd police officers questions a local who describes his run in with Carl and he says "well this guy said he was looking for some action, I'm goin crazy down there by the lake, and I said what kind of action, and he said what do you think, woman action! And he said what do you think, are you saying I'm some kind of jerk, as the last guy that said that to me is dead now, what do you think of that?  And I said well that doesn't sound too good for him!" and when asked what Carl looked like we get the familiar reply "oh kinda funny lookin!".

Also worthy of mention is the cinemaphotography by their regular DoP, Roger Deakins, who does a stunning job here, as he knows how to make any film look great, and there are several great shots, particularly the opening shot of the car driving by the big statue with the sign saying "welcome to Brainerd".  Also there is a great overhead shot where Jerry dispondently walks towards his car after his property deal falls through.  And lastly I will mention Carter Burwell, who is the Cohen brothers regular composer, and he provides a terrific music score here, with many great dramatic passages that underly the tragic themes of them really well.

So that's it for my look at Fargo, which I hope you enjoy, and I will leave it there for now.  Yaaah!  

In the loop

Right well I thought I would review another Brit movie, and this one is a spin off of one of my favourite TV shows, The Thick of It, starring Peter Capaldi in the role of the aggressive and vitriolic spin doctor, Malcolm Tucker.

So to start with a quick look at the plot, it all starts with a bumbling minister, Simon Foster (Tom Hollander) who makes a comment on a live radio show that war in the Middle East is "unforseeable".  The prime minister's spin doctor, Malcolm Tucker (Capaldi, great as he ever was in this role) on hearing the comment gives Foster a bollocking and tells him that he was to walk the party line.  Later on Foster is caught by the press and TV cameras and he says "there may be a need to climb the mountain of conflict" which contradicts his earlier comment, and get's him into further trouble with Malcolm.  Malcolm however decides to send Foster to the US on a psuedo fact finding mission, along with his hapless aide Toby (Chris Addison).  As he meets with some US state officials, which include the devious Linton Barwick (David Rasche) the Assistant secretary of state for policy, Karen Clark (Mimmi Kennedy) assistant secretary of state for diplomacy, and her assistant, Liza Weld (Anna Chlumsky), as well as Lt General Miller (James Gandolfini).  And Simon ends up getting used as a pawn in an international political game, as his comments are taken out of context and used as the catalyst to start a war in the Middle East.   And as the film progresses things get deeper and deeper for Simon, Malcolm and Toby as they all have to play their part in the US officials political game.

In the loop is an excellent spin-off of the great TV show, The Thick of It, in which its structure is very similar to that of the show, in that an incompetent minister is used as a pawn by Malcolm Tucker for his own ends at that of the party.  In fact all the actors from the series appear in the film, except most of them play different characters (except Peter Capaldi, and Paul Higgins as Jamie).  Tucker on the other hand also to try and contend with Simon's incompetence and find ways for him to resolve them, and in the end (PLOT SPOILER) Tucker realises that he has no real choice but to bump him, which makes for a rather cruel end.  The film itself actually mirrors the events that lead up to the Invasion of Iraq back in 2003, and as it progesses the political pressure cooker really heats up.  And what makes In the loop work so well, is the writing, which is both hilarious and savage, as the cast don't hold back with their brutal expletives, especially with Malcolm's!

Which brings me onto the performances, which are all great, starting with Peter Capaldi, as Malcolm Tucker, which will forever be the part he will be remembered for no doubt, and he is superb in his role as the ruthless, intimidating, not too much potty mouthed spin doctor.  Capaldi get's plenty of great lines of dialogue throughout, of which I will mention only a few as I would be here all day!  Starting with one of my favourites where Malcolm bashes the director of communications for iternational development, Judy Molloy (Gina McKee) by saying to her "well allow me to pop a jaunty little bonnet on you while I ram it up the shitter with a lubricated horse cock!" which I will never forget.  There is also the line where he makes a surprise visit to see Simon in Washington and enters his hotel room, where Toby comes out the toilet and he gasps in surprise and Malc says "you're supposed to shit yourself in there, not out here!".  Also another favourite is when Malcolm is accosted by an American for swearing and he replies "kiss my sweaty balls, ya fat fuck!".

Also his scene with James Gandolfini is great as the two of them lock heads and have a few words, where Tucker asks him "have you ever killed anybody?  I mean really killed them and not just slept on them!".  And lastly near the end of the film when he tells his opposite, Linton Barwick just what he thinks of him by saying "you really are a boring fuck!  I'm sorry I know you disapprove of the swearing, I'll fix that.  You are an f** cunt!".  

Tom Hollander is also really good in his role as the incompetent minister, Simon Foster, and he has quite a few funny moments, one of which is when he is in conference room with all the US state officials and they look to him for a quote and he nervously says "well in our country we have a saying, which is its difficult, difficult, lemon lemon difficult".  Also later when he is supposed to meet with Toby along with Karen Clark, and Toby turns up late and Simon berates Toby sarcastically by saying "oh you did alright, its not like took your dick out, starting playing with it, willy banjo!".  Chris Addison is also good in his part as Toby, who is basically another version of Ollie from the TV show, as he is a rather inexperienced and cocky, although he isn't given as many great lines as he usually does in the show.  Although my favourite is easily when he talks to Chad (played by Zach Woods) a junior staffer who is slagging of Toby's love interest Amy (or bit on the side more like) in a pretentious way, and Toby says "you talk entirely in parables, you're like a crap Jesus!".

James Gandolfini is great in his part as Lt General Miller, who is a retired army soldier, who get's involved in the political game to start a war in the Middle East and his big and imposing frame makes him an initimating presence in the film.  This is especially shown in the show when Linton stands him up for a meeting and he is furious and he snatches a magazine from a member of staff, crunches it up and hands it to Linton's aide saying "give this to your boss!".  Also later on when he argues with Karen she accuses him of not being a real soldier anymore and he shouts "I'm a soldier, its not like you need to drag a bloody corpse every so many years into the Whitehouse to renew your "soldier" license!" and also "you don't talk about my balls, you have no idea where my balls have been!".  But my personal favourite is near the end when Toby approaches him to see if he wants to become his aide and Miller says "go fuck yourself, Frodo!".

And in other smaller roles, Paul Higgins makes a welcome return as Jamie (named Jamie MacDonald actually in the film) Malcolm's press officer, who is even more aggressive and intimidating than he is.  And to say he has some great lines is an understatement, starting with his first scene when he walks in and slags off Simon who is in trouble over a collapsed wall in his constituency of Northamptonshire.  And the line is "well if it isn't humpty numpty, sitting on a collapsing wall like some clueless egg cunt!" and he goes on to bollock Toby by shouting "shut it, Love Actually! Do you want me to hole punch your face!".  After that he shows  a newspaper covering the story of the collapsed wall and he refers to the builders who never showed up, and Jamie angrily says "what did you expect?!  They're buildiers!  And there are no superheroes that are builders, and you know why??? Because they never fucking turn up in the nick of time! Spider builder?? Super builder??  That's why you never see a superhero with a hod!!".  Also later when Jamie intimidates two members of staff Michael and Suzy (played by James Smith and Olivia Poulet, who both played Glenn Cullen and Emma from the TV show) in to trying to admit if they leaked a report when he kicks and smashes up a fax machine, which he claims was used, and he says to Michael, who claims he leaked it, "that you're career is as fucked as this fax machine!  Is it fucked??" he kicks it "Yeah its pretty fucked!".  Also he shouts at Michael who has opera music playing in the background "turn that fucking noise down!" Its just vowels!  Subsidised fucking vowels!".

Getting onto the film's flaws, well it doesn't have too many glaring ones, but I think one of the things it can be said about it is that some of the regular cast are really sidelined into smaller roles, especially James Smith, and Joanna Scanlan (who played Teri Coverley in the TV show) which is a pity.  Also as a result of that there are some new characters in the American cast that have small and pretty insignificant roles that probably could have been done away with (although Zach Woods as the pretentious junior US staffer is one of the best).  Also the plot in itself is pretty convoluted and is hard to follow at times, but the upshot is its all about mirroring the invasion of Iraq.  And on a character level, as loathsome as he can be at times, Malcolm Tucker can also be strangely likeable, and you almost root for him when he is under the cosh from Linton towards the end of the film.  But in the end he rather nastily shafts Simon for his incompetence, but you have to remember of course that Malcolm is a bastard and a media monster, and in comparison to what he does to Nicola Murray in the TV show, its rather tame.

So that's it for my look at In the loop, which is an intelligent, funny and caustic satire, and if you liked The Thick of It, then you will find much to enjoy here also.

And I shall lie it there just now. 

The Three Doctors

Right I thought I would do a bit of post shifting from my other blog, as this post is about the Doctor Who story, The Three Doctors.  This story celebrated the show's 10th anniversary and reuinted the three doctors (hence the title) as we saw the first doctor, William Hartnell and the second doctor, Patrick Troughton return to the small screen.

So here's a bit more about the plot, as the story starts with a scientist, Dr Tyler (Rex Robinson) who seeks help from UNIT with strange results of a scientific survey, which also results in the disappearnce of a local poacher, Mr Ollis (Laurie Webb).  The Doctor and Jo (Katy Manning) investigate the area where Ollis went missing, and on returning to UNIT HQ, they see a strange energy blob, which consumes the Doctor's car, Bessie, which vanishes.  The energy blob infiltrates the HQ and it also consumes part of the Doctor's laboratory, where the Doctor and Jo are forced to enter the TARDIS along with Sgt Benton (John Levine).  The Doctor activates the TARDIS forcefield to prevent the blob from attacking it, and sends a message to the Time Lords for help.  However the Time Lords themselves are suffering from the attack, which apparently appears to be anti-matter energy from a black hole, which is slowly draining away the energy from the Time Lords planet.  The Time Lords then in order to help the Doctor, send them his previous incarnation, the second doctor (Patrick Troughton) to help the third doctor in their plight.  However the two doctors argue with one another and refuse to co-operate, so the Time Lords try to send the first doctor (Hartnell) along, but he is trapped in a time eddy is unable to fully appear.  The first doctor advises the other two doctors that the energy blob outside the TARDIS is a time bridge and insists they cross it.  The third doctor goes out the TARDIS, but Jo follows him and they are both transported into the anti-matter universe.  The third doctor soon finds that a legendary Time Lord, Omega (Stephen Thorne) is behind the attack on the Time Lords.  Omega was once one of the pioneers in creating time travel, but as a result he was caught up in a supernova and blown out of existance in a world of anti-matter, where he has remained since, and he feels he was abandoned by his race, so he now seeks revenge. 

Meanwhile the second doctor is still in the TARDIS with Sgt Benton and the Brigadier (Nicholas Courtney) both whom are in the spaceship for the first time.  The first doctor then calls on the second doctor and insists him to turn off the forcefield, so the TARDIS can be transported to the anti-matter world so they can help the third doctor.  The second doctor does so, and the TARDIS and UNIT HQ are both transported to the anti-matter world.  Pretty soon the two doctors reunite and pit their wits against the deranged Omega, who insists that the two Time Lords remain there, so he can escape.  But it is soon revealed that Omega is unable to esacpe as the corriosion has destroyed his body and that he only exists now because of the power of his will.  The drives Omega mad who howls with dispair, which lets the Doctors escape back to the TARDIS, where they must come up with a way to thwart Omega's plan to destroy the Time Lords.

The Three Doctors is one of the most entertaining stories of the Pertwee era, and its an inspired way to celebrate the series 10th anniversary.  Although the two actors didn't get along with each other initially during the filming of the show, Jon Pertwee and Patrick Troughton share a wonderful chemistry together on screen, as the two of them bicker and argue with each other.  Patrick Troughton is simply wonderful in his reappearance as the second doctor, and he has pretty much all the best lines in the story, especially in his scenes with the Brigaider, when they arrive on the anti-matter world, the Bridgadier thinks they are on a beach in Norfolk!  And when the Brigadier steps outside to see where they are and sees a sandy quarry, he storms back in and shouts "Now, see here, Doctor, this time you have gone too far!", to which the doctor replies "I rather think we all have!".  His bickering with the third doctor also reveals some funny lines, where he explains to Jo about who he is, and he says "I think I will explain and I hope you don't mind", "Yes I do!" says the third doctor, and the second says "I didn't think you would.". William Hartnell, due to ill health, had to have his role cut down, as at this time his arteriosclerosis had advanced greatly, but his part is also entertaining.  Hartnell also provided one of the story's most memorable lines, as he looks at his two counterparts from the TARDIS video screen, "Ah so you are my replacements.  A dandy and a clown!". 

The regulars are also all on good form, with Nicholas Courtney providing some amusing moments, especially the aforementioned scene where the TARDIS is transported to Omega's world, with the Brig saying "I'll see if I can get someone on the radio.  I'm fairly sure that's Kroma".  Katy Manning as Jo Grant by then had grown very well into her role, and she started to show more self assuredness in her character.  Jo also provides another amusing line when the third doctor tries to explain about the second doctor and who he is, "Look Jo, its perfectly simple, I am he, and he is me!" and Jo replies "And we are all together, goo goo gijub???".  And one of the story's best performances comes from Stephen Thorne as the crazed Time Lord Omega.  Thorne himself, disguised underneath his costume and mask delivers his lines with great relish (and dips maybe ;-) and his booming voice is very impressive.  At times maybe he might sound a bit cheesy uttering some of his lines, especially as he boasts about his world "And I created it! I ALONE!!! OMEGA!!!".

Credit for the story also deserves to go to Bob Baker and Dave Martin, the writers, who wrote a fine script for the 10th anniversary show.  The plot is also really well layed out, and its also quite an important story from the point of view that it expands on the Time Lords history and the genesis of their power of time travel.  The story also neatly brought the Doctor's exile on Earth to a close, after the Omega crisis is thwarted, the Time Lords restore the Doctor's freedom and give him a new dematerialisation circuit for the TARDIS, so he can resume his travels in time and space.  At this point I'd imagine the script editor Terrance Dicks and producer Barry Letts had let the Doctor's exile go on long enough, even though they had a few stories in between where they let the Doctor and Jo travel in the TARDIS to different planets, courtesy of the Time Lords sending them on missions.

The story however of course does have one or two negative points, the main one being the monsters this time round, the Gel guards who are pretty silly, as its clearly just men in a blobby looking outfits, shifting along blindly!  By this time in the Barry Letts era there had been plenty of silly monsters played by actors in rubber suits, but these ones certainly took the biscuit tray.  The effects of the anti-matter energy blob are also pretty naff and primitive looking, and is typical of the limitations of the show's budget at the time, which I guess can't be helped. 

Regardless of that though the Three Doctors is a very entertaining celebration of the show and it was great to see the reuniting of the thee principal actors who played the part.  It would also see a repeat of the format in future stories, where we would once again see previous incarnations of the doctor reappear in The Five Doctors and The Two Doctors (where Troughton would appear yet again) during the 1980s.

Soooooooooo I will leave it there on that one.  

Come on, Wanda, gullet time!!

Right its time for another review and now I will go back in time to 1988 (without the aid of a time machine just my notebook which I am typing this on (for now!) where the film of choice if A Fish Called Wanda, a comedy starring John Cleese.  So let's gie it a look, ol chap....

The film set in London, begins with a group of thieves,  lead by a gangster, George Thomason (Tom Georgeson) who plan a jewel heist.  George plans it out with the help of his right hand man, Ken (Michael Palin) who is an animal lover with a bad stutter, and along with two Americans, the seductive con-artist Wanda Gerschwitz (Jamie-Lee Curtis) and a weapons man, Otto (Kevin Kline).  The robbery goes well as planned, however it is soon revealed that Wanda and Otto, who were posing as brother and sister, are in fact lovers, and they decide to betray George by tipping off the police, who arrest him.  Wanda and Otto go to George's garage lockup to open the safe which they find is empty, as he had moved the loot shortly before his arrest.  In order to find out where the jewels are kept Wanda decides to seduce George's lawyer, Archie Leech (Cleese) who falls for her immediately.  Archie however is in a rather unhappy marriage with his stuck up wife, Wendy (Maria Aitken) and his spoiled daughter (Cynthia Cleese, John's real life daughter) and he has to resort to sneaking around them.  But their liaison  doesn't go well as Otto grows increasingly jealous, and at one point he even breaks in on them and dangles Archie out a window to force him to apologise for nearly calling him "stupid". 

Wanda is furious with Otto and demands that he go and apologise to Archie, who at that time makes an attempt to burgle his own house to find Wanda's necklace (which Wanda dropped earlier at Archie's house and he unwittingly ended up giving to Wendy).  Otto catches Archie and beats him up without realising it was him and does a runner just before Wendy arrives, with Archie finding the necklace just in time before Wendy finds him.  Later on Archie meets up with Wanda again and he gives her the necklace and as they prepare to make love, and as Archie undresses, a family walk in, leaving Archie in an embarrassing position (to say the least!).  After that Archie decides to call off his affair with Wanda after so many mishaps, and that point Otto follows Archie to his home and tries to apologise to him, although Archie is too scared and Otto ends up pointing a gun in his face while making his forced apology (during which Wendy looks out of her bedroom window and overhears Otto mention Wanda).

Meanwhile Ken is given the task by George to kill off the one witness to the getaway, an elderly lady who has three dogs.  Ken makes unsuccessful attempts to kill the lady, and each time he unwittingly ends up killing the dogs instead, but ultimately this ends in success as the old lady suffers a fatal heart attack as a result.  With no witness in the way, this gives George a chance to get off, but Wanda decides to testify and give evidence to make him guilty, in order she can get away with the loot, which causes bedlam in the courtroom as George tries to attack Wanda, but is subdued by the court sheriffs.  Archie confronts George afterwards, who tells him that Wanda and Otto were involved in the heist as well, and will he tell him where the diamonds are, but George instead tells him that Ken knows where they are.  Archie heads over to Ken, who has been tied up by Otto who has forced him to tell him where the diamonds are, and in the process eats all of Ken's fish, including his beloved "Wanda" and leaves with Wanda just after Archie arrives at the flat.  Archie unties Ken who tells him where the diamonds are and they head off to try and catch up with Wanda and Otto, which leads into the film's amusing and silly climax.

A big commercial and critical success at the time of its release, A Fish Called Wanda is a very entertaining film, which is wonderfully written by John Cleese and Charles Crichton.  Cleese pokes fun throughout at the English, and how uptight and reserved they are in comparison to the sexually liberated and carefree Americans in Wanda and Otto.  Although its great how in Archie how he realises what a rather miserable existence he has and that he a chance to change it when he meets and falls for Wanda, and form there he turns from the pompous uptight Englishman, into an assertive and almost heroic figure.  Otto rather amusingly despite his claims to being an intellectual, who reads philosophy is in fact somewhat dim-witted, in fact there are times in the film where I thought he came across as being a bit dyslexic as he fails to pick up on things when people tell him things, hence his somewhat sarcastic response of "what was the first one?" or "the middle one?" when he has to clarify something, as I myself am dyslexic so that's why I picked up on it.  Either that or Otto is just being sarcastic and just doesn't pay much attention, but I would dare say his character is a bit dyslexic and has a poor working memory (like me, but that's just my theory on Otto!).

Anyway getting onto the performances, which are all excellent, starting with John Cleese, who delivers a fine performance as Archie, an emotionally uptight lawyer, who ends up being seduced by Wanda, whom he falls for.  One of the Cleese's funny moments in the film comes when Wanda meets with Archie at his office and as he answers a phone call, Wanda whispers quietly "I want to make love to you" to which Archie's assistant on the other end says "Pardon?!".  Also the scene where Otto dangles out a window and he apologises is funny and he says to Otto "I take it back, and I regret any malice or harm it may have caused your family, and therefore will not make any attempt to repeat any such slander in the future!".  Also there is the scene where he undresses at the flat and he speaks Russian (while Wanda thrives in ecstacy listening to the language), and a married couple and their children walk in, but the wife recognises him and they introduce themselves and Archie is left to awkward acknowledge them "Oh what a strange coincidence!  How nice it is to see you!". 

Michael Palin is also great as Ken, the stuttering jewel thief and animal lover, and he has his share of funny moments in the film, such as when Otto pretends to come onto him and asks if he can kiss him and Ken bolts it shouting "no you fucking can't!".  Also the scene where Otto finds out that George has asked him to kill off the old lady and Otto says "wasting old ladies isn't nice!" and Ken replies "well its better than bbbb-buggering people!".  And in the moment where he finally succeeds in bumping off the old lady (by way of accidentally killing her dogs instead!) and some pedestrians witness her being covered up by a policeman, he laughs delighted and walks off.  And of course the scene where Archie unties Ken at the flat and asks where Wanda and Otto are heading at the end of the film, and he struggles to tell him the name of the Cathcart Towers hotel, and he resorts to writing it down and ends up saying it perfectly afterwards! 

Jamie-Lee Curtis is also great as the sexy and alluring Wanda, who ends up playing everyone in the film, but she ultimately has a soft spot for Archie as they two of them get together toward the end.  Jamie-Lee has plenty of fine moments, and it has to be said has never looked better than she has here, but her best scene is where she berates Otto for botching up her meeting with Archie after he dangles him out the window.  And in the scene Wanda corrects Otto on some of his intellectual mistakes, and she says some hilarious lines such as "the central message of Buddhism is not every man for himself!" and "the London underground is not a political movement!" (well you'd have to be pretty stupid to believe that one!).  Maria Aitken is also really good as Archie's stuck up wife, Wendy who pays him little attention and is self obssessed with her own problems, especially early on in the film when he tries to tell her he won his case.  Later on Maria get's a great line as he storms up to Archie and smacks hard in the face and says "I have never been so humiliated in all my life!  You can stick this marriage right in your bottom!".  

And finally Kevin Kline is terrific as the weapons man Otto, who is also insanely jealous of Wanda's attempts to seduce Archie, and also has nothing but contempt for the English people, whom he calls "intellectually inferior stuck up faggots!" and "they get rigor mortus in the prime of life here!".  Otto also has deep seated insecurities about his intelligence and he hates whenever anyone refers to him as being stupid, hence he keeps saying "don't ever, ever call me stupid!".  And one of my favourite scenes is when he confronts Archie at the flat and demands he apologise to him and Archie says "are you totally deranged???" and Otto looks at him in disgust and says " you pompous, stuck up, snot nosed, English giant twerp, scumbag, fuckface, dickhead asshole!".  Also later in the scene where he ties up Ken and forces him to try and tell him where the diamonds are and he ends up eating Ken's fish (with chips no less!) and he takes Wanda out the tank with a small net saying "Come on, Wanda, gullet time!".  There is also the moment where he follows Ken out of court and finds out that Ken has been given the task to kill off the old lady, and he pretends to be gay again as Ken walks off he yells "I love watching your ass when you walk, isn't that beautiful or what???!" and yells to onlookers "Don't go near him, he's mine!" and just before he angrily looks at some young English louts and says "fuck off, or I'll kill you!  Limey fruits!".  Also Kline often says "Asshole!!" in the film when he nearly drives into someone, and also at the end.  

Direction wise, the film's director, the late Charles Crichton (who directed the classic film The Lavender Hill Mob) did a great job here and he keeps the pace of the film moving along nicely.  Cleese also at the time insisted that rather than using a new fresh faced director that he wanted an old veteran such as Crichton who was no stranger of course to making films about heists.  As for the film's music score, written by John Du Prez, well this is probably one of the weaker aspects of the film, as while its not too bad, it does suffer from cheesy sounding passages, particularly the romantic ones, that just sound so dated and of the time, with some slapping bass behind them (you can almost imagine Mark King of Level 42 playing on it!).

So that's it for my look at A Fish Called Wanda, which remains as one of the funniest British comedy films of the 1980s, and if you are yet to see it, well if you like British farcical comedies then you are sure to like this one.

And I will leave you there. 

The Apprentice semi final

OK just for a change I thought I would do a post on a TV show (which I use to blog about) and this one is about The Apprentice as it reaches the penultimate episode, which is my favourite stage of the show, where the final five candidates are interviewed by four of Lord Sugar's toughest advisors.

As we may all know the format of the show has changed over the years as Lord Sugar is no longer offering a job, he is now offering to become a business partner with one of the lucky 16 candidates, but they must go through a rigorous 12 week process in order to do so.  So as I said the candidates have been whittled down to five which leaves, three ladies, the feisty Luisa, the efficient and cool Leah, and the down to earth and likeable Francesca.  Then the two guys, Neil Clough (or Cloughy as he was nicknamed!) who is serious and determined and Jordan (who to me is a cross between Leonard from The Big Bang Theory and a hobbitt, no offence Jordan!).  And at this stage they had to hand over their business plans to be scrutinised by Lord Sugar's advisors as well themselves in some gruelling interviews.  The advisors are the ruthless bulldog, Claude Littner, Lord Sugar's former associate, Margaret Mountford, and Mike Soutar and Claudine Collins.

In the interviews for starters, Luisa who has basically for the most of the show been a real pain in the arse, as she is quite confrontational and headstrong, did get some credit for her business plan, which was to create and promote a market for bakeries, but there were some concerns that she came over as being bit spoilt and opinionated and even if her CV she referred to previous boss "a total idiot" (yep that's not idiotic!).  Leah's plan to put her profession as a maxiplast sugeron to use as a business raised some ethical concerns, that Leah might try to exploit people who are vunlernable and use her business to make a quick buck, which he denied she would do so as it was against her ethics as a surgeon.  Francesca's business plan which was something to do with promoting different types of dancing/workout classes was seen as practical but she got into trouble from Claude for not knowing her figures.

As for the men well they didn't favour so well, starting with Neil, who's plan was to set up a real estate business website so that people could sell their own house, yet at the same time he also would invite real estate agents to do business on it as well.  Neil's plan was criticised as being deeply flawed as clearly it would cause conflicting interests between the people selling their houses and the estates agents who are potentially losing business as a result of this.  Jordan however did worst of all, as it was revealed his business plan, which was to create new ways of utilising immersive multimedia, was in fact not his business at all, as he didn't even have a share in it!  Jordan was quickly shut down in his interview by Claude who point blank refused to carry out the interview as he called him a "parasite" since he had no stake in the proposed business, and he therefore asked Jordan to leave.  Jordan also rather amusingly was asked by Mike Soutar to solve a Rubiks cube in three minutes, as it was a claim he made in his CV that he could complete one in that time, but Jordan in the end failed to do it!

In the boardroom after Lord Sugar spoke with the advisors, he straight away fired Jordan for his false claims of the business plan being his own, which was no doubt the right decision and once again it shows just how naive some of these candidates are, as Jordan is another classic example of a candidate on this show that didn't do his homework.  And it was a shame in a way that Jordan didn't read the small print before he went on the show, as he could have saved himself alot of time, even though he was as strong candidate if he had been up for a job with Lord Sugar he would have had a chance, but as it is he had no hope unless he came up with a plan that actually was his.  Neil was next up in the firing line as Lord Sugar, who had high hopes for him, was bitterly disappointed in his business plan, as he said trying to combine two different parties i.e. the member of the public selling their house and the real estate agent on his website just would not work.  And in the end Neil dug his own grave as he was stubborn and inflexible on his plan, and he would not even accept an alternative, as Lord Sugar even suggested that he could have just ended it at the seller looking to sell their own home on the website, so Neil got the boot.  Neil had a chance to actually save his business plan had he followed Lord Sugar's suggestion, but in the end Neil's own pride and stubborness cost him, which in a way was a shame as he was one of the strongest candidates.

Next up Lord Sugar had the tough decision to choose between the three remaining candidates, as he realised that Leah's surgery business was ethically questionable, but Leah remained adamant that she would turn people away and not compromise her ethics or just try make a fast buck out of anyone, but he also realised it was worth a risk, so he decided to let her stay in the final.  And in the toss up between Luisa and Francesca, Lord Sugar opted to fire Francesca, as he felt her business plan lacked any edge and that she didn't quite have the entrepeneaurial flare he was looking for. 

So this sees the two finalists: Luisa and Leah go head to head to win the right to be Lord Sugar's business partner.  Personally out of the two them I would go with Leah, as she is more level headed and her business proposal is worth a risk and Lord Sugar stand to make more of a return out of her should it be a succeess, plus I think Luisa could be a real handful for him if they were to work together.  However the final episode will see the two finalists launch their own businesses and come up with brands and campaigns, and from there Lord Sugar will finally decide who will be his business partner.    

And that's it for now, and next week we will get the winner of the show and find out who will be Lord Sugar's business partner.

Bye for noowww.  

100th Post!: Full metal jacket

Right well this is actually a rather special post as it is the 100th of this blog, so I thought I would mark it with another movie review so I've gone back to the 1980s and decided to review Stanley Kubrick's penultimate film, Full Metal Jacket, which is set around the events of the Vietnam war.  And with that let's have a look at the flick......

The film is set in 1967 during the Vietnam war and it begins with a group new recruits who are sent to Parris Island where they are trained by the hard ass and foul mouthed senior drill instructor Sgt Hartman (Lee Ermey).  Hartman uses tough tactics on the recruits, which include the cocky Private Joker (Matthew Modine), the inept and overweight Private Pyle (Vincent D'Onofrio) (these are nicknames given by Hartman).  Pyle's bumbling and clumsy nature and frequently below par performance in his training gets him regularly into trouble with Hartman who pushes him hard.  And after a while Hartman decides to have Pyle paired with Joker to help him improve in his training, which for a while improves.  However Pyle is found out by Hartman to have stolen a jelly doughnut from the mess hall which he hid in his footlocker (which was found to be unlocked on inspection by Hartman).  Hartman then decides as a result of Pyle's failure that every time he screws up, he will punish the rest of the recruits instead, and this indeed carries on as Pyle's continues to make mistakes.  One night the rest of the recruits attack Pyle by pinning him down in his bed and hitting him with bars of soap.  By now Pyle is left feeling totally isolated and alone and from here he starts to show signs of mental breakdown.

Pyle however on the plus side starts to finally impress Hartman with his rifleman skills and it is not long after this that Pyle disciplines himself into becoming a textbook marine, but at this time Pyle also starts to show signs of cracking up as he talks to his rifle.  On completion of their training the marines are given their military occupational assignments, with Pyle and many of the other recruits being given infantry in the field, and Joker basic military journalism.  On the final night on the island Joker on nightwatch finds Pyle in the toilets, holding his rifle, clearly now having suffered a mental breakdown, Pyle starts to quote the rifleman's creed, this noise of which awakens Hartman.  Hartman storms into the latrine and demands that Pyle put down his weapon, but Pyle instead kills Hartman and then he turns the rifle on himself, leaving Joker stunned.  After this the film jumps to the following year 1968 where Joker is now a journalist in the war for Stars and Stripes.  And from here Joker is sent to Phu Bai where he soon meets up with one of his fellow recruits Prviate Cowboy (Arliss Howard) and his squad of men, which includes the cynical machine gunner, Animal Mother (Adam Baldwin). And from here things get tough as Joker becomes more involved in the war as a soldier where he has to fight like the others to survive in Vietnam....

Full metal jacket is no doubt one of the most memorable war films in recent years, and while you could argue that the main showpiece of the film is its first 45 minutes during the boot camp sequences, it still remains one of Stanley Kubrick's most powerful films.  Kubrick's look at the war in a way is similar to Apocalypse now in that it isn't told in a strictly literal fashion as depicted in Oliver Stone's Platoon, where it get's down to the nitty gritty of the sights, sounds, noises, the dirt, the bugs and the blood, it is more about examining the attitudes of the war from the point of view from the soldiers in the field, rather than fighting to survive.  Kubrick wanted to make a film about the Vietnam war for several years and it took some persuasion for him to work with his close friend Michael Herr, who was a former war correspondent, with whom he co-wrote the screenplay along with Gustav Hasford.  Production wise of course with Kubrick's fear of flying the film once again was filmed entirely in England and at locations such as the Norfolk Broads, and a former RAF and British army based, Bassingbourn barracks, the Cliffe marshes (used for the open country scenes) as well as at disused gas works in London.  And given that it was supposed to be set in Vietnam, Kubrick went as far as to even import palm trees from Spain!  And its this attention to detail that actually makes you believe or at least accept that the film does look and is set in Vietnam.

Getting onto the performances they are pretty much top notch here, with Matthew Modine arguably giving one of his best performances as the cocky Private Joker, which Modine shows in a way as being about the only character in the film with a sense of humanity, as he is surrounded by marine killing machines.  And in the Parris island scenes you see that he is the only one that shows any kind of empathy towards Private Pyle and his inability to perform well in his training as well as his dismay at Pyle's eventual breakdown.  Modine does of course have plenty of good lines in the film, one of which is where he faces off against one of Vietnam soldiers, Animal mother (played by Adam Baldwin) who asks him what he does and Joker tells him he is a combat correspondent, and Animal mother sarcastically asks "have you ever seen any combat?" and Joker replies "well I've seen a little on TV!".  Also when he is in a meeting with the Stars and Stripes jouranlist team, his boss tells them that the film actress Ann Margaret,was due to arrive the week before, but as Tet Offensive happens and vietcong overrun the area with suicide bombers, Joker quips "so does this mean that Ann Margaret is not coming????".   

Vincent D'Onofrio is terrific in his tragic role as the hapless Private Pyle, an overweight recruit who is unable to do things right by himself until later on when he is pushed to breaking point by Hartman.  D'Onofrio has several highlights in the film particularly the scene where he first speaks to Hartman and he tries not to laugh at Hartman's gruff yet amusingly profane manner.  Also the scene where he messes up on a task during training and he is made to drop his trousers and stick his thumb in his mouth and march with his rifle.  And there is his final scene in the latrine where he is confronted by Hartman while dementedly quoting the Rifleman's creed, and he has the look of Jack Nicholson in The Shining with that evil mad glint in his eyes.  And in the end Pyle is really the only sympathetic character in the film as he is subjected Hartman ruthless training methods which causes him to ultimately snap.

Which brings me onto Lee Ermey as Sgt Hartman, who delivers the best performance in the film as the ruthless drill sergeant, and he plays Hartman straight down the line as a hard assed marine, who frequently spouts out profanity at his recruits in order to push them as far they can go.  When Kubrick hired Ermey, who was a real life drill instructor in the US marine corps, he asked that he wanted it to be real, and Ermey said "Stanely, I wouldn't give it to you any other way."  Ermey has so many priceless lines of dialogue that there are too many to mention all at once, but a few favourites that come to mind include when he first meets Pyle he asks him "Do your parents have any children that lived?  I bet they regret that!  You are so ugly you could be a modern art masterpiece!".  Another one is when Pyle feebly tries to climb the training course obsctacle wall and he is feared to climb over it which disgusts Hartman who already has said "you climb obstacles like old people fuck, do you know that???!" and then he angrily says "Are you quitting on me???? Then QUIT you slimey walrus fuckin piece of shit! Get the fuck off my obstacle! Get the fuck down off my obstacle, now move it! I'm gonna rip your balls off so you cannot contaminate the rest of the world!  I will motivate you private, even if it short dicks every cannibal on the congo!".  Another favourite line is when he speaks to Private cowboy for the first time who tells him he's from Texas "holy dog shit, only steers and queers come from Teaxs, private cowboy, and you don't look much like a steer to me so that kind of narrows it down!  Do you suck dicks?  Are you a peter puffer??  I bet you would be the kind of goddam person that would fuck a person in the ass and not even give them the courtesy of a reach around!  I'll be watching you!".  Also the scene where Hartman has the recruits parade around their bunks holding their rifles and grabbing their crotches in turn singing "this is my rifle, this is my gun!  This is for fighting, this is for fun!" is both funny and memorable.  I also like the scenes where he runs with his recruits on the barrack grounds and they sign along with him such as lines as "I don't know what I've been told!  Eskimo pussy is mighty cold!  Ho Chi Mhin is a son of a bitch!  Got the blue ball crabs and the seven year itch!".       

As for the other performances in the film Arliss Howard is excellent as Private cowboy, who you don't actually engage much with until he appears later in the film in Vietnam, and he becomes a more humanised character as he leads a squad of men who come to respect him, before (PLOT SPOILER) he is soon killed by a sniper.  And Howard's performance actually elicits some emotion from the audience especially as he can be identified as the everyman in the film (if you can forgive the cliche!) and the scene where he is killed is one of the film's more powerful moments where Joker cradles him in his arms as he dies.  Howard has an amusing moment when he is filmed by a camera crew and he says "There is something wrong with this country, as I cannot find one goddamn horse in it!".  Adam Baldwin is also really good as Animal mother, the no nonsense cynical soldier whom bears a grudge against Joker when he meets him and he says "you talk the talk, do you walk the walk?!" but later on when he sees his men get picked off by a sniper, he does what he can to keep his men safe by trying to locate and take out the sniper.  Animal mother also amusingly points in his interview on camera to a film crew that he thinks "well if you ask me, I think we are shooting the wrong gooks!" as his perspective on the lack of appreciation from the Vietnamese people and their efforts to help them in the war.

Kubrick once again here makes a technically brilliant film and he uses his typical camera set ups of slow pans, and symmetrical patterned shots, and makes good use of slow mo in some of the film's later scenes, especially during the attack on Cowboy's squad by a VC sniper.  And he makes great use of the film locations in England for the various scenes in the film, even if you can see during the Parris island scenes that there are English give way road signs!  The soundtrack for the film is also excellent as it features some original atmospheric moody pieces by Abigail Mead.  It also features some tracks of the period which are used really well such as Johnnie Wrigt's "Hello Vietnam" which is used right at the beginning where we see the recruits get their hair shaved off.  Also Nancy Sinatra's "These boots are made for walkin" where we see the Vietnamese hooker tempt Joker and his journal photographer friend Rafterman with the famous line "me so horny, me so horny!".  Then there is of course the catchy "Surfin bird" by The Trashman, which is just brilliant and was later again popularised by Family Guy, and finally The Rolling Stones "Paint it black" is aptly used at the end credits.

Getting onto the film's flaws well if you want to be critical then you could argue of course that the film takes a dip after the Parris Island sequence is over and Lee Ermey's killed off, and from then on it isn't quite the same, but really I think it has to be viewed as a film of two halves, and they are both good in different ways.  But having said that there is no doubt that the film's Parris island sequences are the real highlights of the film and the rest of the film does struggle to live up to that.

Well that's it for my look at Full Metal Jacket, which is an excellent war film and if you haven't seen it yet, then give it a go.  

And with that on my 100th post I shall leave you there, and say here's to the next 100. :-)

World war zzzzzzzzzzzzz

OK time for a review of a new movie that's just oot in the cinema, and this is one that I saw in my trip over in London last week up at Leicester square, which was World War Z starring Brad Pitt (which I saw in 3D!) so let's arm up the baseball bat and the machine gun and brave it....

The film begins in Philadelphia with former United nations employee, Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) and his family sit in heavy traffic, when all of a sudden there is a series of explosions.  Soon after they are attacked by masses of zombies, and those who are attacked are turned into zombies within 12 seconds.  Gerry and his family manage to narrowly avoid being killed by the zombies by escaping to the roof of an apartment complex.  Gerry avoids being affected by a zombie and is soon picked up by a chopper sent by his fellow UN colleague Thierry Umutoni.  Gerry and his family are taken to a US Navy vessel where scientist researchers try to analyse the scope of the worldwide virus outbreak, which has been turning people into zombies.  Gerry travels with a virologist who says they must try and find the origin of the virus so a vaccine can be made.  They travel to a military base in South Korea where the virologist is killed accidentally during a firefight when they are attacked by zombies, but the zombies are killed by surviving soldiers, who tell Gerry that the zombies are attracted to noise.  And from here Gerry continues his quest to try and find the source behind the zombie virus and find a way to stop the virus from spreading to infect the entire human population.

Based on the novel of the same name (written by Max Brooks) World War Z has the potential to be a good horror film, but it is somewhat squandered in the translation to the big screen (starting with the flaws for a change here!).  The problem with the film being that it has no real sense of build up and you are thrown right into the action without any real warning.  The tone of the film is naturally serious but it also lacks much in the way of any character development, and the characters are also problematic as they are all pretty one dimensional.  The zombies also are akin to the ones we saw in 28 days later, who were infected with the rage virus, so once again we get zombies that can be champion sprinters!  There is also heavy usage of CGI in the film with the zombies, particularly in the scenes where there masses of zombies running around, especially in the scene where the zombies swarm to climb up the walls in Jerusalem, and these scenes just look pretty false and unimpressive. 

There are also some silly scenes in the film, the most notable one being when Gerry and the others are attacked on the plane by zombies, that he throws a grenade which blows a hole in the side of the plane, which causes it to crash.  And despite the fact that pretty much everyone onboard was killed somehow Gerry manages to survive as does the young female soldier he rescued from turning into a zombie, Segen, and they are largely unscathed, which is ridiculous and highly improbable to say the least that they would survive!  Another unintentionally funny moment in the film is when Gerry and the young soldier, Segen, arrive at the WHO labs, and the doctors show them footage of some of the infected doctors who have been sectioned off, and we see one of them finish taking a piss and zipping his flies up while limping zombie like out the door!   

However despite its problems, World War Z does have some merit, such as Brad Pitt's main performance which is fairly good, and while Pitt has not a great deal to work with other than play the part of a reluctant hero, he does it pretty well.  The supporting cast are also pretty good, although again they are not really given much to work with in the script, and it was a pity in a way to see Peter Capaldi (who plays one of the research doctors at the World Health Organisation labs) his pasrt reduced to basically a series of grim lines and tense looks (without even a trace of Malcolm Tucker there!).  Marc Foster also while not the best choice of director for the film, does a decent enough job, but the pacing of the film is uneven and there is no real sense of terror or suspense, however despite that he stills allows for one or two jumpy moments.  And one of the interesting things about the film was that it was partly shot in Glasgow, which doubled up for Philadelphia (although why they didn't just film there seems a bit strange to me) and the opening few minutes are shot in George Square, where you see normal punters turn into zombies and go bananas (as they do, actually that sounds like a normal night out in Glasgow! ;-)).

The film also has quite a good score by Marco Beltrami and apparently the rock band Muse also contributed towards the score as well, although I'm not sure where their contribution lies in the soundtrack mix (as we don't Matt Bellamy bellow out operatic tones anywhere!

So that's it for my rather brief look at World War Z which is by no means a terrible film, but I wouldn't exactly call it a great one either, but if you are interested in checking it out, well it is worth giving a go if only once.  But as for as zombie flicks go I have seen much better ones in the past than here.  For me the best experience of seeing the film was on the BIG screen at Empire cinemas in Leicester square in 3D, as it was quite an experience in itself to see (although the 3D glasses were a bit uncomfy!).     

And I will say bye for now and leave it there.