Because Every Screen Has A Silver Lining...
Thursday 13 September 2012
Cookery Club and Car Lifting
2012
4 Stars
I’ll admit, like most fans of the British comedy phenomena that is The Inbetweeners, I was devastated to hear that an American remake was on its way. How on Earth could the Americans bastardise a show so crass, so hilarious and, at heart, so intensely British as The Inbetweeners? It seemed an impossibility, and after the so many failed attempts in the past (Red Dwarf, The IT Crowd, et al.), one had to question why they were even bothering.
But the truth is, it isn’t the toilet humour and foul-mouthedness that made The Inbetweeners as good as it was; quite simply, it’s the show’s heart. Centring around four secondary school losers, it’s so easy to see our own former selves in at least one of the group. We all knew a Jay, a Neil or a Simon, and I will freely admit to having been the Will McKenzie of Durham school. Teenagers are all the same, and THAT is what makes the show so very poignant.
With that in mind, why couldn’t an American translation work? Are American teens really all that different from those of the UK?
Simply put, no, they aren’t.
It’s true that a lot of the material is similar, and there are a few quips that were hilarious in the British version that rather fall flat in the Americanisation, but perhaps that is simply because we have all over-watched the show and already know the punch-line well before it has come. Four episodes in, however, and writer Brad Copeland (of Arrested Development fame) looks like he’s beginning to take risks, having this week given us an episode of entirely original material which would easily have stood up against some of the best episodes of the original. Will starts a cookery club to impress Charlotte whilst Jay gives up “sex” in order to give himself a wet dream. It just works wonderfully.
Of course, it’s the boys themselves that make the show what it is, and although Joey Pollari is quite weird enough as Will, his supporting classmates really do make up for it. Bubba Lewis’ portrayal of Simon is as awkward and prattish as Joe Thomas, with Alex Frnka a much more believable and compassionate Carli than Emily Head ever was.
The stars of the show, however, have always been Jay and Neil, and at first glance, I’ll admit that I was concerned; Zack Pearlman’s Jay is a rotund and greasy looking chap who one would never believe to be the stallion he claims to be, but it is immediately made clear that this is part of the joke. Bouncing around like a young Jack Black, he brings a new twist to the character that really does work. His mascara-topped outfit in the Night Out episode is, quite simply, priceless. Mark L. Young as a long haired wannabe-rocker Neil is a scatterbrain rather than the outright idiot of his predecessor, and it’s clear in both of these characters that they are different people altogether instead of attempting to be clones of their British counterparts.
If the first four episodes are anything to go by, this could end up being a great show, and it’s rather a shame that it has such large shoes to fill. That said, The Office became great in its own right, and I truly believe that this could too, just so long as it’s given the chance.
So, y’know what people of Britain? Stop moaning and give it a go, ‘cause after all, weren’t we all inbetween at some point?
Thursday 26 July 2012
Spiderman for the Bieber Generation
Monday 4 June 2012
God Save the Queen...?
Henry Selick, 2001
Monday 28 May 2012
Les Animations Francaise
Back From the Shadows
Wednesday 13 July 2011
The Great Disney Countdown Part 2
So, for you enjoyments, here’s numbers forty to thirty-one.
A dog, brought up to believe he is a superhero, who is in fact simply the title character in his own TV series, finds himself powerless in the real world after his co-star, Miley Cyrus, is kidnapped. Bolt is a great concept and a pretty fun film. Indeed, of Disney’s brief sojourn in CGI, it’s by far the best. Does it measure up to the real classics though? Well, not really. But it’s still good fun.
Home on the Range boasts one of the best opening numbers a Disney film has ever produced. There’s also a lot of fun to be had with the highly camp yodelling baddie. Unfortunately it’s just a bit too Chuck Jones to be considered real Disney. That said, it’s well worth a few chuckles, and has a stellar voice cast. Disney’s final 2D animation. Y’know, before they realised how stupid that idea was.
I guess the main problem Tarzan had is that it followed the golden age, and just didn’t live up to its predecessors. Following straight on from a series of nine absolutely top-notch films, Tarzan just didn’t make the grade. With a soundtrack by Phil Collins, rather than actual songs performed by the characters, it was a bit of an oddity. Good animation and likable characters, as well as the touching story of Tarzan’s primate family, make this nonetheless a good’un.
37. The Adventures of Ichabod and Mister Toad (1949)
This was one of my childhood favourites that unfortunately was lent to a friend and never got returned. Bing Crosby’s haunting rendition of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is cinematic gold, whilst Basil Rathbone’s Toad of Toad Hall is rollicking good fun. A fabulous double bill.
Let’s be honest, there are a few Disney films that really only girls can appreciate to the fullest. Oh, and effeminate younger brothers of course. As in touch as I am with my feminine side, I have never really been able to see the full appeal of Sleeping Beauty. Yes, Maleficent is one of the finest Disney villains, and there’s some iconic tunes… It’s just a bit… Well… Girly…
Tangled, for the most part, rocked my socks. The first half hour left me worried that this would be forgettable trite, and when Alan Menkin’s name appeared in the credits, I was shocked to the core that such a genius could have produced such dreary tunes. However, after the appearance of anti-hero Flynn, the film really picks up pace, and the ending is quite touching. It’s not the best (hence stepping in at number thirty five), but it’s quite lovely. And Mandy Moore makes a delicious princess.
Another compilation film, but with a lot of good going for it. Make Mine Music starts off with some relatively mundane shorts before really hitting its stride with ()’s legendary Peter and the Wolf, followed by another Andrews Sisters classic about a fedora who falls in love with a blue bonnet, before finishing off with the absolutely outstanding The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met, truly one of the studio’s finest short films. As mentioned before, had these last three pieces been preceded by the opening numbers of Melody Time, a real great would have been produced.
Okay. I’m going to be honest.
I don’t particularly like Bambi.
I get it. Cultural importance, Disney’s favourite film, yaddy yadda. I just find it a bit, well, dull. That said, I couldn’t bring myself to place such an important film any lower on the list. Ho hum.
32. The Rescuers (1977)
The Rescuers, in my eyes, was a good movie that paved the way for a much more enjoyable sequel. There’s some classic characters; Wilbur the albatross, voiced by the late great Buddy Hackett, the terrifying alligators Brutus and Nero, and of course, the legendary Evenrude the dragonfly. It’s scary, touching, and beautifully dark. And should not, under ANY circumstances, be confused with the Rescue Rangers!
Pocahontas boasted a beautiful score and stunning animation, but unfortunately didn’t quite work as a family film. There’s romance, adventure, and a spattering of comedy from animal sidekicks Meeko and Flit, but following The Lion King was always going to be a tough call. The conflict between evil Governor Ratcliffe and the natives, however, is done with aplomb, and the film’s inevitable ending is very powerful. It also introduced a generation of kids to a true legend.
So there’s the last few not to make the top thirty. Tune in next week for numbers thirty to twenty one!
Tuesday 12 July 2011
A Nasty Double Bill
I Spit on Your Grave
Steven R. Monroe, 2010
2 Stars
When it comes to video nasties, Meir Zarchi’s 1978 shocker Day of the Woman is something of a classic. Not because it’s any good of course, but simply because it’s pretty darn horrendous in every way; a writer flees from the city after being gang-raped, finding solace in the peaceful countryside, only to find herself gang-raped again, for forty or so minutes of grimy and poorly shot gloom. Thereafter, she wanders around naked for the rest of the film, taking bloody revenge on the yokels, culminating in cutting off one of her attackers’ todger in a bathtub. It’s bloody awful, and of all the “classic” horror film that seem to be inevitably remade of late, this is probably the most unnecessary.
But yay. Remake.
The story is the same; writer, rape, revenge. And to be honest, it’s quite as dull as the original, but in a rather different way. For one thing, the attempted characterisation of the thugs during the first thirty minutes of film is quite tiresome, and I must admit, I found myself drifting in and out of caring up until the mandatory sexual assault. There’s some rather amusing menacing along the way; Chad Lindberg (Dave from the first season of Buffy) plays Matthew the Retard, and does a pretty good job of it too, with a bizarre mix of lust and guilt, especially during the lead-up to the infamous scene, whilst Jeff Branson is pretty good as head thug Johnny. And the gay chappy from Mean Girls is a hilariously strange casting choice as one of the group. But are they scary? No. Not really. And it takes Andrew Howard’s corrupt sheriff, whose character really doesn’t work at all, to actually crowbar some menace into proceedings.
The rape itself is pretty vile, though not in comparison to the gritty aplomb of the original, where it was performed with such painful believability, and to be frank, it’s just a bit old hat these days – the reason these films were so shocking in the 70s was ‘cause nobody had done it before… Ho hum…
Sarah Butler as the innocent victim does a good job with her role, and her revenge is harsh and justified. Death scenes are inspired, raising the film’s star rating from a single pointer, and the castration scene loses the laughableness of the original, delivering a truly nauseating chop.
All in all, it’s not one for the family, and a bit of a needless attempt to cash in on the reputation of its forefather, complete with anal rape by rifle. Hazah!
Srdjan Spasoevic, 2010
Somewhere between 0 and 5 Stars
It takes a great deal for a horror film to affect me these days. Having seen so very much trite over the last decade and a half of devouring the genre, I have become rather disaffected by the whole malarkey. As such, for a film to actually have a lasting physical and psychological impact on me… Well, it’s either got to be something utterly amazing, or the most depraved, disgusting material ever put to celluloid.
A Serbian Film is arguably both.
Following the tragic tale of a retired porn star in poverty stricken Serbia, this is a film that manages to explore the darkest boundaries of human sexual depravation. Suggesting that pornography should be a boundary pushing art form, one made to shock and inspire utmost controversy, budding film maker Sergej Trifunovic enlists our “hero”, a somehow touching Srdjan Todorovic, to take part in his new venture, promising that he will never have to work again upon completion of the picture.
Milos soon finds himself drugged, beaten and thrust into a world of paedophilia, necrophilia, and “newborn porn” before ultimately being tricked into anally raping his own son whilst his brother shags his unconscious wife. In a spate of drug-induced fury, he then proceeds to kill a man by thrusting his erect member into his eye socket.
Yes.
Seriously.
This is a real film.
Real life director Spasojevic argues this to be political allegory. Every other critic slates it as a mere “out to shock” endeavour. Either way, it certainly leaves you in a state of somekind… Personally, I was nauseated, disgusted, depressed and yet somehow impressed. Indeed, it’s difficult to place a rating on such a film; on one hand, it’s truly horrendous, but on the other, it’s cleverly made, thought provoking, and probably one of the most powerful movies you’ll ever have the displeasure to watch.
But should you watch it? I wouldn’t recommend it. But surely that’s recommendation enough.
But seriously, you probably shouldn’t.