Sunday, 26 August 2012
Saturday, 25 August 2012
MY HIT LIST: THE CORNER
TK Carter & Khandi Alexander
The Corner; the Six part HBO mini-series set in Baltimore and based on real life experiences over the period of a year is a forerunner to The Wire. Broadcast in the mid nineties It features many of the creative team and actors that went on to acclaim in the superlative five season triumph that took Baltimore's story further; without The Corner there would have been no Wire.
Given its financial constraints it manages to overcome some of the production issues with excellent performances from its ensemble cast. The story of a family and how drugs effect both them and the community is told with a great deal of subtlety and it is to be admired for its unflinching portrayal of the lives of 'dope fiends' It's essential viewing for Wire aficionados and lovers of quality TV Drama alike.
Friday, 24 August 2012
PURE CINEMA #1: THE ECHO GAME-HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS
THE ECHO GAME SCENE FROM THE SUPERB HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS
WHICH IS AN
EXHILARATING EXAMPLE OF 'PURE' CINEMA.
Wednesday, 22 August 2012
MY HIT LIST : SPACED
Watch Spaced on 4OD
Given that the geek have
inherited the earth it is perhaps apt that I look at Channel 4s sitcom Spaced.
A superb two series show written by and starring Simon Peggy and Jessica
Hynes as Tim Bisley and Daisy Steiner Spaced was full to bursting with pop
culture reference and in particular cinematic homage in almost every frame. Rich in detail with a
great set of characters Spaced was prime British sitcom. Brian the intense
artist, Twist his weird on/off girlfriend, Marsha the alcoholic landlady and
Tim's best friend Mike make up the 'family' of Spaced and their exploits are
both surreal & mundane and very funny.
Guns...
...lots of guns
Tim: You can't dangle the bogus carrot of possible reconciliation in front of
me whilst riding some other donkey
Tim: What is this? This is rubbish! We should be listening to firm young
melodies, kicking tunes, thumping bass! God I sound so stupid!
Tim: You know when you said it went well? Well, when you said well, did you
mean shite?
Tim: [On Resident Evil] It's a subtle blend of lateral thinking and extreme
violence.
Brian: What, like "It's A Knock Out"?
Daisy: Well we went to see an interesting piece of contemporary theatre, drank
an enormous amount of free wine, ate our body-weight in Twiglets and you
punched an artist in the face.
Tim: Shit, I'm not supposed to eat Twiglets
Daisy: Why not?
Tim: They make me violent
Daisy: How can you not like him? He's so cute. Aw...
Tim: Yeah, that's how it all starts, with oohs and ahs, but later there's
barking and biting! He's a ticking timebomb of death, Daisy. You give him all
the love in the world and spend years of your life doting on his little furry
head, and then one day you get back from aerobics and there he is, panting over
the half eaten remains of some hapless handyman you left fixing the tumble
dryer.
Daisy: We don't have a tumble dryer.
Tim: I just had a moment of clarity, you know, I woke up. It's like... you
know when you have an orgasm on your own? [Daisy looks increasingly disgusted
and uncertain during the following:] You know, you're sort of lying on the sofa
watching some porn movie you bought on a drunken lonely night in Soho, and
you're lying there and everything's going really great, you're getting totally
turned on by these absurdly graphic images, everything seems so right, and
suddenly - phht! Bingo! You wake up. And you're lying there sweating,
desperately looking for the tissue which you know is still in your pocket, and
the remote control which is somewhere on the floor, and it's like walking in on
yourself, you know? It's just like "What you doing?" That's how I
felt tonight feeling my heart miss a beat everytime the door opened. "What
the fuck are you doing?"
Daisy: Well, that's... love, isn't it? Load of old wank.
To a Star Wars: The Phantom Menace fan]
Tim: You are so blind! You so do
not understand! You weren't there at the beginning. You don't know how good it
was! How important! This is it for you! This jumped-up firework display of a
toy advert! People like you make me sick! What's wrong with you?! Now, I don't
care if you've saved up all your 50ps, take your pocket money, and GET OUT!
[The little boy runs out, crying]
Tim: What a prick.
Tim: Aren't you going to ask us how it went?
Daisy: How did it go?
Tim: Really badly.
Robot Club Leader: Gentlemen, welcome to Robot Club. The first rule of
Robot Club is, you do not talk about about Robot Club. The second rule of Robot
Club is, YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT Ro… wait, I… got that wrong. [Unfolding a
crumpled up piece of paper and pushing up his glasses] The second rule is, no
smoking.
Tim: Why aren't we allowed to smoke?
Mike: We're not allowed to talk about
it.
Duane: You know what they say about love and war.
Tim: Yeah, one involves a lot of physical and psychological pain and the other
one's war.
Monday, 20 August 2012
TONY SCOTT RIP
Tony Scott sadly took his own life today. I hope that he is not just remembered for his bombastic output such as Top Gun, Days of Thunder and Beverley Hills Cop 2. His style was always high gloss and kinetic but his way with actors should not be underestimated
Those that want to see how good he could be should refer to percursor of the modern vampire movie The Hunger,or the underrated revenge thriller Man on fire, the dramaticly powerful Crimson Tide, the paranoia thrills of Enemy of the state , the comic book energy of Domino, or perhaps that best pure 90's action movie that few have seen ,The Last Boty scout. My favourite of his is the superlative True Romance a film in which he orchestrates a remarkable cast to great effect. Heres a brief sample of his work.
True Romance
the Hunger
Last Boy scout
Enemy of the State
Domino
Crimson Tide
Man on Fire
POP CULTURE RUPTURED
What item sums up popular culture in the UK right here right now? Will it be a work of art from an edgy and provocative artist? perhaps a record sleeve that captures the imagination. Could it be a Movie that sums up British youth, or a zeitgeist novel?
Perhaps a political speech or a 'voice of a generation' interview will encapsulate our pop culture sensibilities.
But its none of the above. What perfectly captures the moribund, facile and vacuous state of British popular culture is;
'TheOnlyWayIsEssex jewelled Blackberry Curve bearing the ITV2 logo'
Sunday, 19 August 2012
CURIOSITY CORNER: GOLDEN GIRL
Glorious Poppycock GOLDEN GIRL 'introduced' Susan Anton and cameoed the great Bob Beaman it is the greatest of terrible Olympic movies. It comes across as The Boys from Brazil meet the Bionic Woman. It has a suprisingly good cast in James Coburn, Robert Culp, Harry Guardino, Curt Jurgens and leslie Caron. Composer Bill Conti riffs on The Rocky theme and Joseph Sargent is a no frills director, yet it manages to use mad Nazi Science, Glamour and music to create a classic 'so bad it's good' masterpiece
Saturday, 18 August 2012
CURIOSITY CORNER: OLYMPIC MOVIES
Deranged animated musical vision Animalympics
FULL MOVIE
Decent British drama
Light hearted 'romp'set in Tokyo
Spielberg's underrated revenge movie
Dumbletics
Two versions of a remarkable story
Well written 80s movie suprises the viewer
The poster says it all
Friday, 17 August 2012
CURIOSITY CORNER: OLYMPIC MEMORABILIA
Paris 1924 Cigar Holder
Berlin 1936 Mesh purse
Berlin 1936 Candleabra
Mitt Romney Badge 2002
Montreal rodent 1976
...and of course the most sinister
Thursday, 16 August 2012
ACTION PHILOSOPHY IS GO!
Plato- Blam! Marx- Pow! Nietzsche- Splat!
Aristotle- Boom! Sartre-Sacre Bleu!
Well, I'm back suitably refreshed, and a holiday is always a good time to get all philosophical...but now its time for action! These tomes by Fred VanLente & Ryan Dunlavey put the action into philosophy, the Va Va Voom into value systems and the umph into existensialism. Seek them out as you would seek out enlightenment.
Tuesday, 14 August 2012
HARRY PALMER
montage
Michael Caine as Harry Palmer is superb in The Ipcress file and Billion dollar brain. The first directed with great panache by Sidney J. Furie and the second directed by the flamboyant Ken Russel. There are two further movies starring Len Deighton's anti-hero which are rather disappointing; Funeral in Berlin and the afterthought that is Bullet to Beijing. Ipcress and Brain both have excellent soundtracks courtesy of John Barry and Richard Rodney Bennet respectively with terrific title sequences. Convoluted tales of Spies and the intelligence service; without the glamour. They look very much of their time but capture that time perfectly as the 'anti swinging sixties'.
Caine's Palmer is everything that James Bond is not. He's real and flawed and is something of a accountant with a far more interesting job description. A Secret Service man who works between the margins, and as such he is both laconic and world weary.
A great creation, Harry Palmer is and was a unique British hero...and all the while wearing glasses!
BDB Opening titles by Maurice Binder
The Ipcress File Opening titles theme by John Barry
The rather dour Funeral in Berlin titles
the rather dour Bullet to Beijing
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