Annotation:

This is a photograph compilation from the renowned Liverpool photographic studios trading under the name of 'Peter Kaye'. This moniker was the commercial name of photographer Bill Connell. The photos included here of the Beatles just prior to their major success in Britain are fascinating social documents, providing as they do a backdrop of dereliction, riverine and post-industrial wastelands, and burnt-out cars. These enduring images should be placed alongside concepts that many British people held of Liverpool in the post-WWII era, both wittingly and unwittingly fostered by the media, as a declining city and it continues to be of interest that few, if any pictures were taken in (say) leafy, suburban Woolton. Dereliction obviously had far more cache in that 'British kitchen sink movie' era of the late 1950s and early 1960s than the inter-war fringe development of Menlove Avenue. British TV and film directors often used the city as a signifier of decay and decline. For example, the TV work of Dennis Mitchell, alone ('Morning in the Streets', 1958) helped to provide a stereotype from which the Beatles could not, by 1962, escape. Connell's pictures therefore capture in a most dramatic way, the diachronic and synchronic historical strands that enabled the Beatles to both capitalise upon and be caught by such predisposed cultural moods. They are amongst the most significant British photographs of the entire post-WWII era and are, naturally, indispensable to the Beatles researcher.

Michael Brocken

Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only.

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The Bitch was a critical flop with both fans and critics. In the last few decades it has built up a fanbase and become a bit of a cult movie.

The plot is pretty incomprehensible with Nico smuggling a diamond to pay off a gambling debt to some hardened criminals and Joan Collins being the woman he has a fling with.

The film came hot on the platform heels of the "discoploitation" subgenre with the pinnacle being Saturday Night Fever and some true oddities like Disco Godfather. There are some truly appalling disco scenes that do not capture the glamour and feature largely unprofessional and unchoreographed dance scenes. Even worse the nightclub scenes take up aroun ten minutes of the film which has an already short runtime; obvious filler.

Joan Collins looks great. One of the eye popping scenes is her in a red and black basque which was used for the poster art. The sex scenes are brief with Joan keeping her clothes on for most of it and even a swinger scene in a mansion feels a bit limp.

This film isn't a total mess. Nice photography, great locations and set pieces, a bit of campy dialogue and some good looking actors who can actually act make for a decent night in with a few beers. Ignore the low review scores, fans of exploitation films have always known what's good.

Joan Collins was maligned for this film as her starpower was fading by the time she did The Stud. Ironically this sequel was a factor in showing the world she was still a sex symbol and an icon at 45 and I'm sure lead to her being cast in Dallas.

The Blu-Ray from Kino Lorber features a soft print, most likely from film deterioration, clear sound and the commentary track is a hoot.

3 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Annotation:

In this volume O'Brien mixes a short discussion of the original dwellings once occupied by a selection of Liverpool's most successful entertainment and media stars with equally short pen pictures of the personalities - including members of the Beatles. A good deal of the information within was collated from past editions of Kelly's (Gores) Directory which, beginning in the late-I8th century, annually listed households and businesses for every property in Liverpool. O'Brien is a good researcher and coupled with the photographic archives from the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo (the publisher of this volume being the papers' parent company Trinity Mirror), we have here an interesting volume. The entries are a little too short, however, and at times one is left rather wanting or in a state of confusion. For example, more information concerning black Liverpudlian vocalist Lita Roza (the first Liverpudlian to have a number one hit single in Britain) is required, while Rex Harrison's information is incomplete: the Harrison family were indeed from Huyton, but there was also a family home in Everton, on Walton Road (now occupied by a hairdressers and the intrepid Elvis expert Mick O'Toole!). Curiously, the artists are not listed alphabetically - which seems very odd - so the work is far from comprehensive as a research tool. Nevertheless it is a worthy addition, which brings together Liverpool's interesting cultural geography and its renowned production line of British entertainment personalities. It has not ostensibly been written for the Beatles marketplace and Beatles fans might find it a little 'parochial' for their tastes; Spencer Leigh provides a foreword.

Michael Brocken

Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only.

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Annotation:

This text is only of monograph length and contains many photographs of old and, in many cases no longer existing, Merseyside and North Wales venues. However it works very well as a valuable resource, has enormous empathy of tone, and is extremely practical as a handbook for Beatles tourists and researchers as they move around the Merseyside region. For a Liverpudlian such as this writer, it also serves as a poignant reminder of a Liverpool that has now all-but vanished.

Michael Brocken

Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only.

1 person found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

One of those: "You've got to see it at least once in your life" kind of films.

Of course, the big thing about this movie, is the big gimmick employed of making an entire movie from Vincent Van Gogh paintings, making them move and tell a story, which is the story of Vincent himself...

...And as such, the many thousands of hand painted frames (actual paintings!) that go to make up this work stand as an astonishing technical, and artistic achievement. That said, this gimmick does threaten to overwhelm the movie, as it is quite a jarring experience which takes some getting used to after the initial: "Wow!" of the concept has passed...

...It looks, and feels, not unlike an LSD trip (so I'm told - ahem), which very much presses in on the brain somewhat.

Fortunately, even if you take this big gimmick / artistic concept out of the equation, there's still a great story, well told underneath, and the movie could stand on this alone.

The premise is that a postmaster's son, returning a letter to the family of Vincent Van Gogh in the town where he spent his final days begins to unpick the story of those final days through conversations, or even interviews with those that knew him, and so unravel the mystery of the man, both in how and why he died, and who he was as a person:

...Did he kill himself?

.............Was he Killed?

....................Was he mad or simply misunderstood?

Ultimately, this is an "impressionist" portrait of Vincent Van Gogh in one crucial period of his life: The end... as told through the collective testimony of others, and I think it does the man justice, for all his faults and foibles, there's a love, warmth and sympathy for him that helps look at those well established ideas we have of his life in a new light.

In fact, I did come away form this feeling that perhaps I'd like to see a straight up, live action version of this story, without the gimmick, as it would certainly still be a great movie, but as it is, as a whole, it's a great experience to have at least once.

4 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

There's been a trend starting in the 00s to make films in the style of exploitation films from the 70s and 80s that were popular on VHS; titles including Nude Nuns With Big Guns, Hobo With A Shotgun and even Hollywood getting in on the act with Deathproof and remakes of The Hills Have Eyes and I Spit On Your Grave. The Greasy Strangler is one such film in the "straight to VHS" mould, using a lurid colour palette and a deliberately soft print.

A misfit father and son team do tours of disco hotspots in an unnamed American town. Their relationship is compromised when son, Brayden falls for Janet, a patron on one of the disco tours. In the meantime a greasy strangler is murdering locals.

The first 20 minutes are hilarious. I was laughing a lot. The film reminded me of Tim and Eric's Awesome Show and South Park. It uses gross out humour, scatological references and nudity featuring prosthetic penises. There's also a ton of overly camp murder scenes with purposely bad special effects. Sadly my enjoyment was soured by the endless repetition of the few good jokes and lines. It would have worked beautifully as a 30 minute TV pilot, but crass for crass sake soon wears thin. I have a strong stomach and watch many exploitation and horror films, but even I found this film disgusting.

I honestly believe British director, Jim Hosking is one to watch in the future as he has crafted something slightly derivative, but also it stands out in an oversaturated, engineered B-Movie market. It probably just needed a slightly higher budget and maybe an additional writer to tidy it up and we could have had a great black comedy. Don't believe the hyperbole about this being one of the best films of the last decade or a cult classic, it's purposely designed to appeal to people who love Troma and/or the hardcore horror film festival crowd. For me while enjoyable it fell quite a bit short.

6 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Annotation:

Braun, a renowned journalist of the day, travelled with the Beatles on their British tours; as such he created an early piece of critical social anthropology and observational ethnography as a way to understand the phenomenon of the Beatles and their fan base. This book, therefore, is both historically and scholarly interesting via its consideration of Beatlemania in situ. The book was re-issued in 1995 (long overdue) and remains highly recommended as an engrossing and atmospheric (yet erudite) piece of work from the 1960s. It was Braun who was responsible for John Lennon obtaining the publishing deal that resulted in the publication of In His Own Write, according to Bill Harry.

Michael Brocken

Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only.

1 person found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Annotation:

Braun, a renowned journalist of the day, travelled with the Beatles on their British tours; as such he created an early piece of critical social anthropology and observational ethnography as a way to understand the phenomenon of the Beatles and their fan base. This book, therefore, is both historically and scholarly interesting via its consideration of Beatlemania in situ. The book was re-issued in 1995 (long overdue) and remains highly recommended as an engrossing and atmospheric (yet erudite) piece of work from the 1960s. It was Braun who was responsible for John Lennon obtaining the publishing deal that resulted in the publication of In His Own Write, according to Bill Harry.

Michael Brocken

Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only.

1 person found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Another journey into a heart of darkness and light.

Alex Garland does it again!

...Cook your noodle, that is.

For my money, he deserves his place among the modern masters of intelligent cinema, alongside Villeneuve and Nolan.

This time he takes a lot of fairly stock ideas that are usually employed by lazy writers to cobble together straight to streaming cheapo, knock-off Sci-Fi, and instead, uses them as a cinematic language to carry through some more profound thoughts and story.

In this case, he begins with the tried and trusted alien object / meteor crashing to earth and messing with the fabric of our reality (Color Out Of Space - Lovecraft) via an inscrutable alien phenomena: The "Shimmer", which is a huge curtain of expanding protoplasmic radiation stuff, that's gradually swallowing the world, and from which, any attempt to investigate it yields no clues as to it's nature, as those sent never return...

...Until, that is, one of the soldiers sent (Oscar Isaac)- thought lost - arrives mysteriously back at his home to his grieving wife (Doctor and former soldier - Natalie Portman), but he is odd, and quickly falls ill, and is taken into military quarantine... his only hope, that Portman and a small group of soldiers can go in tot he Shimmer, and unlock it's mysteries.

This sets up a kind of Heart of Darkness / Apocalypse Now, journey into the phenomenon ,and "Down river", where things start going very strange indeed, and increasingly horrific.

And there are some truly horrifying concepts in this movie, as well as some quite beautiful ones - sometimes at the same time!

And while there's a very definite H. R. Geiger / Alien debt owed at the end, which anyone will pick up on, all this only serves to carry through a deeper story, which is to do with psychological self destruction, identity, definition of reality, and what that might be, and even this, strongly conveys a profound Buddhist like, spiritual idea of self Annihilation (Oceanic consciousness etc.).

So it's essentially a hard spiritual pilgrimage into very disturbing territory, that is very unsettling at times, obscure, difficult to wrap your head around what's happening, but quite rewarding if you do stay with it.

This would sit comfortably on notional DVD shelf next to movies like Arrival, Interstellar (anything by those two directors- Villeneuve and Nolan), in being a slow burning, thoughtful mind-bender, punctuated by small moments of action.

And, as I say, Garland uses those "tropes" deliberately, as a "mash-up" language not incompatible with the central theme of the phenomenon itself.

Excellent, and should be better known.

4 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Reviews taken from pages 3 and 4 of Jeff Walker’s 2014 book Sex and the Beatles: 400 Entries:

Well done. It’s much more than constructing/reconstructing albums. It’s a masterpiece.

- Richard Courtney, co-author of Come Together: The Business Wisdom of the Beatles

I have a full set of the suggested compilations and they are superb…[So] make your own… it's well worth it.

- David Bedford, author of Liddypool

It's a pleasure to welcome [a new Beatles book] that doesn't tread in the footsteps of what's gone before… What Walker is proposing works well… I have listened to the lot and the way he has put them together is really imaginative. I can't thank him enough…

- Spencer Leigh, BBC Radio Merseyside host and author of many Beatles books

The most oddly compelling music book I have read in years… You owe it to yourself to get it. If you are a fan, run, don't walk. It's that interesting…. Highly, highly recommended.

- Scott Atkinson, TV news director (New York)

Very interesting new concept based on… the treasure trove of music from the solo Beatles.

- Mark Lapidos of The Fest for Beatles Fans

The premise of the book to replace Alen Klein… will certainly get the book fans for that reason alone… a ‘what if’ scenario that creates, at the least, something to consider.

- Steve Marinucci: Beatles Examiner

So big and smart and well-written… a very great unadulterated pleasure.

- Toronto Today editor Eric McMillan

A piece of conceptual art… I found Walker's pruning superb… a worthwhile project accomplished with good humour and a lightness of touch despite the enormous effort involved… meticulous research… I would not be surprised if someone at a record company isn't listening and taking notes.

- Jamie Farrow for Beatlefan

There is a striving here for perfection and a certainty in his conclusions… His writing style is entertaining and humorous… I greatly liked the revision on the Get Back/Let It Be project… which stands almost alone in its reassessment… The wealth of material on the solo tracks is vast… will get you thinking, discussing (and debating)… well worth the price of admission.

- Cyber-beatles.com review

A worthwhile purchase for any Beatles fan… Fans who have not listened to much of Paul, John, George and Ringo's solo output will find this a very useful reference… I have no doubt that anyone who actually assembled Walker’s Beatles Releasing Collective sets would find them to be truly enjoyable albums on a par with most of what The Beatles released in the 1960s.

- Eric's Music World blog

Each Beatles Releasing Collective album set has been meticulously assembled, sequenced and refined… these are not crude collections of the mop-tops solo hits. Jeff writes with passion and all the half-crazy focus of a serious Beatles fan.

- Said the Gramophone music blog

I can unreservedly recommend this book. Putting together the virtual Beatles albums the author suggests is a lot of fun, but even without that, the historical material in this book explores territory not previously covered in the history of the Fab Four. I am positive that all Beatles fans will enjoy it immensely.

- Tracy Howe: singer/writer/keyboardist for 1980s synth band Rational Youth (on Capitol Records)

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"Four Proverbs" has four movements for soprano and ensemble, the other pieces are instrumental. All are post-modernist and quite jolly. I like Torke's writing on the Proverbs in which he explains ".. (at twelve years old) I coincidentally made the dual discovery of girls and God - which at that time didn't seem in any way a contradiction.."

[YouTube Video]

2 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

The first thing that will strike you when you listen to Florence Foster Jenkins is that none of the words are discernible. For this reason I have omitted the title details as to whether a song is being sung in German or English, which seems also to have defeated those printing the sleeve and labels, which disagree on these details.

The discerning listener may also notice some errors in temperament. I have to confess I do not rate her performances very highly, though Florence had, and continues to have, her admirers, and her nine recorded songs continue to sell steadily.

Der Hölle Rache (Queen of the Night aria) must be one of her better performances:

[YouTube Video]

4 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

non-fiction, espionage, politics: chapman pincher was a right-wing journalist and political commentator with excellent contacts in some parts of britain's intelligence, spy and counter-intelligence services. this allowed him privileged access to quite a few ''real-life'' espionage stories, particularly those revealing or emphasising the threat from the infiltration of the trades unions, the political party they supported, the newspapers that were generally sympathetic to them, and journals & journalists likewise - whether or not these stories were in fact true...

- he also helped break the stories of philby, burgess & maclean, three british communists working for the soviet union within the british counter-intelligence service, and eventually also anthony blunt, keeper of the queen's art collection.

- strangely, he completely missed the british secret service's plot to overthrow the democratically-elected, mildly left(''-wing'') labour government of harold wilson...
- which was eventually published by heinemann australia, despite the government's very heavy-handed threats and other attempts to suppress its breaking into general public knowledge.

- nevertheless, this is an absorbing - and largely true, if somewhat partial - overview and account of the world of espionage, especially through the nineteen forties, fifties, sixties and seventies, as seen from the eyes of a very well-connected right-wing british journalist and entertaining writer.

5 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

From Amazon:

Sex and the Beatles “chronicles any and every sex-related event in the Beatles’ life…illustrated throughout with hilarious depictions of beetles in action…culled from a wide variety of books and interviews, and humorously summarized for an enjoyable read.” -- BeatleLinks website.

“Scanning Sex and the Beatles initially, I knew I was going to enjoy the experience…Sun Page 3 stuff…a grubby piece of work…heh, heh…I sat down and read it in one go…Very unusual, very interesting…[A Harrison incident] amused me most.” (The book reviewer spent almost the entire segment recounting salacious anecdotes from the book.) -- BBC Radio Review from Spencer Leigh’s On the Beat Programme.


“Sex and the Beatles is exactly what the title suggests—a look at the sexy underbelly of the Fab Four in 400 ways you probably couldn’t imagine. Walker cites sexy anecdotes from 46 sources…[The book] digs into the Beatles’ past, both during the group and solo years, for both obscure and not-so-obscure tales about the sexier side of the Fab Four and leaves little unturned…The resulting book is everything you wanted to know about sex and the Beatles, but were afraid to ask. Now you don’t need to. You can just read it all here.” -- Steve Marinucci on Something Else!/examiner.com websites.


“Read it…If this book had been out 50 years ago, the Beatles would not have been allowed into the USA.” -- Peter Dicks, radio host of The Beatles and Beyond.

"A cool little book...about the sexual escapades of The Beatles." -- Beatles on Abbey Road website.

1 person found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

This is good. Just remember to add 10 pages so people can look at it

1 person found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

From Amazon:

Don Diego Vega

5 out of 5 stars

I am glad that I read it
Reviewed in the United States on 30 July 2015
Verified Purchase

OK: much of it is true, some of the facts are not true, written with seemingly hatred toward the Beatles. Eye opening though. I am glad that I read it. Basically, they sometimes took other songs and rewrote them. Thay all had input...as the songs took shape, they were altered..more new lyrics were written.... but in some cases, it was a little too close!

1 person found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

From Amazon:

M. E. PINEDA

5 out of 5 stars

The Beatles Extraordinay Plagiarist
Reviewed in the United States on 14 October 2012
Verified Purchase

A comprehensive look on the evolution of The Beatles as musicians. It also portrayed how their chatacters and personality transformed as they became more and more popular until they turned into this huge cultural icon.
Some readers may find this book contoversial due to the subject matter,but I for one disagree. Some Beatles die-hard fan might find it unpalatable to know that their idol (and mine as well) are mainly creating music thru derivation from various songwriters. But the author has supported his premise time and again in the book, by painstakingly illustrating how The Beatles did it song after song after song.

As Mr. Cruz quoted Paul in a 1982 Playboy interview, "0h yeah. We were the biggest nickers in town. Plagiarist extraordinaire"
In the end, in no way did it diminish my regard for the boys from Liverpool. I still am a fan, I guess I forever will be.
Just like John was influenced by Preley,Dylan and company, there are hundreds of artists today and from years past that have been influenceed by The Beatles.

I would also like to mention that the author also humanized the Fav Four in their fans eyes . It made me think hmm they're human like you and me,subject to failings and weaknesses such as petty jealousies and ego trips and insecurities.. That made me like them more. It made them real to me.

Hats off Mr. Cruz. Job well done indeed. Thank you sir!

1 person found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

From Amazon:

Galo

5 out of 5 stars

Myth Debunked?
Reviewed in the United States on 10 August 2012
Verified Purchase

There's no doubt in my mind about the labor of love the author has put into the writing of this book. I am quiet sure that this work will unsettle many, especially the die-hard fans but for the rest (and that includes me), it will be another way of looking at the boys from Liverpool; an opportunity to weigh in on things and from there develop our own conclusions based on the information (extensively researched, and well reasoned I would say) that are presented in this work. Will this book debunk the myth or will it rally the unconditionals to defend the Beatles' "cherished legacy" by undoing the arguments the work bring forth in the book? That is probably too early to tell. But for ordinary folks like me who have enjoyed their songs over the years, it could be the push we need to form our "definitive" opinion about the Beatles for who they are and their contributions to rock music...

The title provokes and the essence of the book is anathema to any self-respecting Beatles fan. Yet, here it is from an admitted long time aficionado and an acknowledged Beatles guru. Edgar sets forth on a course of discussion one may consider blasphemous to the sacredness of the Beatles legacy. In dissecting the Beatles' work, actions and motives, his presentations are well researched and documented. They are indeed revelations that are very hard to digest and could somehow tarnish an otherwise brilliant achievement by the group. In short, read for yourself and draw your conclusion...

1 person found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

From Amazon:

Forest

5 out of 5 stars

Cell by Cell Dissection of the Beatles Work
Reviewed in the United States on 20 August 2012
Verified Purchase

Growing up during the Beatles era in the 60's and 70's, I am certainly a big fan of all their work. I am thankful to Mr. Edgar O. Cruz for sharing this very intriguing book that took over 20 years in the making. Coming from a medical field, the book " the Beatles: Extraordinary Plagiarists" looks like a cell by cell dissection of the BEATLES work. There was so much information and analysis contained in this 172-page book. It gave me a different perspective on the popularity and creativity of this Fav Four British Group I grew up with.

Can't wait to also get an electronic IPAD version of this book that I can take along with me all the time.

Kudos to Mr. Edgar O. Cruz for a job well done.

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From Amazon:

Zen

5 out of 5 stars

AN OUTSTANDING OVATION :WELL-RESEARCHED AND DARING BOOK
Reviewed in the United States on 14 August 2012
Verified Purchase

THE BEATLES EXTRAORDINARY PLAGIARISTS, a book with a title that promises an awful lot to us, the readers, whether fans or not of the famous Beatles. Indeed the author, Mr. Edgar O. Cruz, an avid fan of the Beatles, made an extensive research about the Beatles, unrelentlessly, digging the truth behind our favorite rock band. Apparently, it inspired him to write this book with daring revelations about the Beatles.

This most intriguing book ever published about the Beatles has delivered page after page of information so extraordinary that literally changed what I knew then about the Beatles. The author, Mr. Edgar O. Cruz, has enough guts to write such a compelling book which covers all that may not have known before about the Beatles.

Such an intriguing book which I think the Beatles fans, like me or non-fan alike should have a copy to read and learn the facts or know the "naked" truth about our beloved Beatles. I give an outstanding ovation to the author for a well-researched and daring book!

1 person found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Like most people of a certain age I used to read Terry Pratchett Discworld novels as a child. They are fondly remembered by children and teenagers of the 80s and 90s. The Abominable Snow Baby is based on the Terry Pratchett short story from 2015 aimed at young children.

Granny (nicely voiced by Julie Walters) adopts an abominable snow baby after nobody will take him in. The granny becomes an outcast in a fictional Northern town, but forms a bond with the baby.

This is from the same animation studio (Eagle Eye Drama) that produced last year's big Christmas animation for Channel 4 "Quentin Blake's Clown". The animation is digital, but has a watercolour feel to it. It definitely looks like a children's book and there are some stunning scenes. Story-wise as it is aimed at children, it is as one would expect: light on content. Unfortunately, every Channel 4 animation is going to be held up against The Snowman which bankrolled Channel 4 as a formidable force in broadcasting quality original animation. Pratchett fans will get a kick out of some of the inimitable language used such as people's surnames or the photograph of Pratchett on a wall, but it's just a bit meh. I'm not doubting a lot of care and love has gone into producing this, but much like previous efforts of Clown, We're Going On A Bear Hunt and The Tiger Who Came To Tea - I'm just underwhelmed.

4 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

A Christmas Carol was produced for ITV in the UK. Ross Kemp was allegedly a driving force in getting this film made, as he is a fan of the story. It was his first big role since EastEnders.

Unfortunately everything about it just strikes the wrong tone. It's set on Alexandra Road council estate in Camden. A popular filming location for "urban films". It just looks drab and soulless. Even Eddie Scrooge's flat which is supposed to look modern, looks like they set-dressed a carpark.

Scrooge as the loan shark is a good idea, but Kemp doesn't have the acting chops to pull off the more intense scenes and it is reduced to looking camp. That's the issue it's tries hard to be funny, but also serious and it doesn't do either well. It's seems like they were trying to attract a family audience; most violence is off screen and only mild swearwords, but trying to make it dark.

There's a fine supporting cast with Liz Smith and Mina Anwar who are always good value. I'm not sure if Warren Mitchell is an inspired choice as Scrooge's father or not.

The whole production looks cheaper than it is, with only a few locations and some terrible special effects even for a 2000 TV movie. The ghosts don't even look like ghosts just men in chains.

All that said, I didn't hate it. It's not a turkey, but it needed longer to cook and a sharper script.

4 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

From Amazon:

L. Miller
5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating archive of Beatles comic material
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 July 2012
Verified Purchase

I brushed past a copy of this book at an art gallery shop and found myself looking through it and finding it incredibly interesting. There's a decent foreword and write-up before one sees the meat of the book - illustrations of Beatles theme comics. Even those that are in their own language are so interesting and diverse. I hesitated to buy this because I've lost that affinity for comics but I'm glad I went for the book in the end. The Beatles will always be an incredibly interesting subject in whatever form!

The book also comes with a double-sided poster - on one side four cartoon drawings of the band themselves and the other side comprising a comic version of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. A worthy purchase (£7.50 cheaper than the art gallery price) makes this an essential investment for a Beatles fan.

Cosmically Concsious
1.0 out of 5 stars NOT as enjoyable as I would have liked
Reviewed in the United States on 12 February 2013
Verified Purchase

I was expecting nice clear pictures on glassy paper, instead the comics that are reproduced here are blurry and on cheap looking paper. I sold mine after having it for less than a week. Much of the text and comics are in Italian and French and are incomplete. I would stay away and use your money to search Ebay for Beatles comics that are complete and in the language of your choosing.

✔︎ Helpful Review?

Despite being Emmy nominated, here's a Christmas film virtually nobody talks about anymore.

Olive, the Other Reindeer is a 2D computer animated TV special. It has Olive who is a dog, a Jack Russell terrier, I think. Her best friend is a penguin who sells fake Rolex watches (Rolexxx to be precise). An evil postman plots to stop Santa delivering presents; because he's sick of delivering letters to Santa. After a misheard radio announcement Olive comes to the rescue as the other reindeer to pull the sleigh.

This film is very charming. It's now regarded as a classic. To be honest it's not up there with The Snowman, or some of the Rankin Bass productions, but it is great fun. The film has some grown up humour, but nothing sexual or edgy, mainly just pop culture references and wordplay. I preferred this over "Hooves of Fire". There's a superb mix of voice talent on show, Drew Barrymore is excellent; bringing a cute naivety to the role without being irritating.

Unfortunately, given this uses computer animation from over 20 years ago it looks a bit rough around the edges. I saw it in 2000 and I remember it looking great and it has a very unique style, which is sort of flat. Viewers will be reminded of early South Park episodes and Cel-shaded videogames like Wacky Races on the Dreamcast. Once you get over the dated look there is a lot to enjoy. At 46 minutes long it does outstay its welcome by about 15 minutes.

It was first broadcast and produced for Fox Television with Matt Groening serving as executive producer. It was later repeated on Nickelodeon the year after and on Channel 4 in the UK in 2000. It was repeated for a few years after, but it hasn't been broadcast in the UK since 2003 to my knowledge. A DVD has been released with a nice picture and some extras.

3 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Un très beau lancement pour PIERRE ROCHE

Pierre Roche qui avait ralenti quelque peu ses activités depuis quelques années reviendra tout probablement à la surface avec le nouveau microsillon qu'il a enregistré pour la maison Apex, et qui a été lancé officiellement la semaine dernière dans la Vieille Capital au Motel Congress Inn. On sait que ce nouveau microsillon a été enregistré directement de la boîte à chansons du Congres Inn, où Pierre est en vedette depuis déjà plus d'un an. Plusieurs personnalités artistiques et journalistiques de la Vieille Capitale et de la métropole assistaient à ce lancement qui s'est avéré un vrai succès.
(Télé-Radiomonde, samedi 25 février 1967, page 10)

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RENTRÉE DE PIERRE ROCHE SUR DISQUE

Pierre Roche, que l'on n'a pas entendu sur disque depuis quelques années, c'est à dire depuis qu'il a fait ''L'amour m'est venu'', vient de signer un contrat d'exclusivité avec la maison Apex, qui a décidé de le ''relancer''. Vendredi soir prochain, on enregistrera le tour de chant de Pierre au Motel Congress Inn de Québec. Le tout sortira sur un long-jeu au début du mois de janvier. Nule doute que cette nouvelle réjouira les amateurs de belles chansons.
(Télé-Radiomonde, Samedi 3 décembre 1966, page 5)


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Peter and the Wolf is a UK and Poland production. It reportedly cost over $2 million to make; a lot of money for a 30 minute animated film.

The film is based on the music of Prokofiev. The animation style reminds me of The Brothers Quay and Jan

Jan Svankmajer. I understand why some people might find it creepy. It has a realistic look to it using fabrics and fur textures on the animals. The animation is the film's biggest strength. It looks stunning.

Despite being produced for UK TV station Channel 4. It hasn't been broadcast for a few years now. It was a mainstay of their Christmas schedule for a few years. A DVD is available.

The film might be unsuitable for very young children due to some violence and scary scenes. I will praise the art style all day long, but I find myself getting bored half way through. That said it is a darker winter themed animation that deserves to be seen at least once.

3 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Welcome to my happy place!

Some songs attach themselves to you like barnacles on a whale's ass for happy reasons, and others sad... But this one stood for me as a little refuge in my mind when at a low ebb all those years back when it was released, so while of a not so great time, it reminds me of a little glimmer of sunshine cheese in an otherwise dark universe.

When I used to switch on VH1 at 4 in the morning before lurching off to my cruddy, soul destroying job, I used to hang a round for an extra few minutes before leaving, so I could see this video, for a little pick me up (Or maybe I used this as an excuse to leave for work later!).

And the thing is, because it hadn't clung to any particular person, or event in my life, I'd totally forgotten about it, until, a couple of months ago, it was used in a Booking.com advert on the TV:

"No way! - I rmember that!....erm... what's it called?"

So one of those songs that climbed out of nowhere , and for no particular reason, from the dark, forgotten recesses of the mind of a sudden, and kicks you in the balls: "Surprise!".

Having hunted it down again though, all these years later, I'm not ashamed to say I've been watching the video (ahem) "Occasionally", as soft a spongy place to park my brain before the horrors of the modern world invade my brain space again, and resume their assault on my already dubious sanity.

(Ah, Donna, won't you come and take me away from all this, to live with you in that honey coloured rotating box of happy, with you're oddly structured song, forever more?!!!)

[YouTube Video]

2 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

>>Transfered from a comment made on Blu-Ray Disc<<

I took the plunge, and watched this t'other day.

...I was apprehensive, as Blade Runner is my favourite film of all time, and was a little heartbroken (and a bit angry) when they announced this was coming...

(I went to the cinema when it came out, and stood debating with myself before deciding I didn't want that kind of disappointment in my life - another F$%^^ing remake! / cash in / destruction of that which (I) love - and walking off)

But very pleasantly surprised... if it wasn't for the enormous baggage it carries of the first film, I might say this is a modern masterpiece (if it stood alone) - doesn't quite have the soul of the original, but it does have one all it's own, very minimalist performances which speak volumes (Gosling is very good at twitch acting at this level)

Nice twists on he original premise, and elements in the score which are wholly original, and quite startling - did I hear one of those Australian whirly wooden things on a string that Crocodile Dundee used to call out to the clan in the wilderness, a fair bit of throat singing, and the usual bleeps and squiggles.

I very soon forgot about the original for a time, and was absorbed in it.

Villeneuve can take his place as perhaps one of the best directors of our time, and certainly one of the best sci-fi directors (Arrival is brilliant!).

I thin even Philip K. Dick would be happy with this!

I am. (phew)

3 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

After a good and long listening to this album album, I can tell you that this album is another view the the Beatles, with the Stu Phillips as the head of the arrangement and the Hollyridge strings, making it different, like an elegant and fancy orchestra playing Beatles “yeah, yeah, yeah” era songs, recreating them very freshly.
Yes, I can understand that For some, this album and many more is just trash of something, but for others, and this one includes me, this albums gives another kind perspective to the viewer, which wants to listen to good and rhythmic tracks while it’s doing something normal that is related to music.
And the stereo mix is something of another world.
The tracks are amazing, some are the best, some are a little lower for me.
The most important opinion this time and for all, is yours, you, the person who is reading this, I can promise you that you won’t be disappointed if you listen carefully this album

4 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Review on Amazon from Stuart Jefferson

Five Stars THE BEATLES--LITERALLY--IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Reviewed in the United States on 25 August 2014
Verified Purchase

With all the books about The Beatles over the years, and new books seemingly appearing every week, I wonder if anyone would like to get back to the real stuff, the nitty gritty, if you will, about The Beatles. The authors, Mark Swearingen and Don Christian, have done a great job collecting and collating these interviews.

This 400 + page, large size, softcover book contains interviews with the group from their first known interview for the radio in Oct. 1963, up through April 1970 for print use. The book is laid out chronologically with each interview prefaced with information about the interview--location, date, people involved, etc.. Also included are small b& w photos related to each interview. There's a Directory of the major people connected with The Beatles, with photos and a short synopsis of each person--a nice touch.

This book is a time machine back to the beginnings of the group, and back to a more innocent age. Many of the questions are very innocent and fairly superficial. But so are many of the answers from the band. But that's the real charm of reading these pieces again after so many years (decades!) have gone by. Was life really like that back then? Yes it was. And many of these interviews bring back that period--especially if you were around when it was all happening (like I was)--and they have a real flavor of the times. As time went by the interviews began to be filled with relatively more probing questions,. But even by 1970 the interviews (and the band) still had a certain period charm about them.

I've been a fan of The Beatles since I saw them live in my hometown way back in the late 60's. Those first few (U.S.) albums still have a kind of magic when I play them. And so too does this great book. If you want to get an inside picture of The Beatles both before and after they achieved fame--in their own words--get this book. It's the kind of book that you don't have to read chronologically from the beginning. You can open it to just about any page and read something of interest. With all the books about The Beatles written long afterwards, it's refreshing and interesting to read something from the actual period from the mouths of both the interviewers and the band members themselves. Check this out.

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A light, yet quirky oddball comedy take on a Hitchcock style tale of suspense.

Another of those that I had not seen for a while, and had my misgivings about how well it might have aged... or not.

...Fortunately, I was, for the most part, pleasantly surprised, for while some of Mike Myers quirks, and comedy stylings have aged rather badly ("Helloooo!" < type of thing, that he does), they are very infrequent, and don't spoil an otherwise enjoyable pastiche of a Hitchcock like setup and story:

Mike Myers being a guy who has commitment issues, and is always finding fault with anyone he is in a relationship with, even for the most tenuous of reasons, so that he can get out of the situation as soon as possible and avoid anything serious...

...Until, of course, he meets the "perfect woman", and begins to fall for her, and the relationship develops rapidly to the point of marriage (The point of no return? :).

...Unfortunately, she may or may not be an axe wielding serial husband killer.

And now the tables turn, in that where previously, his friends (one of whom happens to be a policeman) where constantly on at him for ditching women for trivial reasons, now don't believe him now that he has grounds for legitimate suspicion.

There's still lots of laughs and fun in this, despite some broad humour of the time, but nothing to get worked up about, and this is mainly because it is, as I said, lightly handled.... And with a surprisingly well conceived and structured story, worthy perhaps, of having a more serious, straight up suspense thriller approach!

Worth a couple of hours of your time for a bit of fun, I'd say.

4 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

As usual with Repertoire releases the quality's a little hit or miss here, tape hiss/mix issues, some tracks mastered too loud or distorted, or dubbed from vinyl ("Anyway That You Want Me" seems to suffer most from this, and was that one really that difficult to access the original tapes for?) but overall isn't too obtrusive and is a comprehensive collection of their singles. Nice batch of rarities and mid/later 70's stuff on here, plus including their rare solo singles, which does make this well worth tracking down for any Troggs fans, I just wish the audio quality were a little better. Still, I'd recommend it.

4 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Top class horror movie.

In the pantheon of horror movies, this is one of those that's really out of the top drawer.

....Not in the range of schlock, or unrelenting gore, but would sit on the end of that shelf next to the likes of The Shining, Rosemary's Baby, and The Wicker Man (original), in that it understands what horror is, and how to deliver it.

It works by using a very clean, sharp visual style of a Kubric like settled framing and camera movement, with heightened, or slightly "off" images within them, which combined with a minimalist, ominous, rumbling, and evil feeling score, creates an deeply uneasy, unsettling atmosphere, while it centres it's story around a family, recently moved into the dead grandmother's house, and who's growing presence begins to pick away at, and erode an already tense family dynamic.

Something is very wrong here, you feel, and it just keeps getting wrong-er!

This is punctuated by some actual, genuinely horrific events, and at least one or two moments when I even winced and involuntarily looked away from the screen... but even these are made more horrible by the matter of fact manner in which they happen... no dramatic score to signal danger or make much of what's on screen.

The other, central aspect of this movie, that makes it even more disturbing, is the (initially) randomness of these events, which leave you bewildered and lost as they happen, and this is the master stroke, because as the normal, by degrees, becomes the insane, by means of this, you don't realise any conscious progression while it's happening, only at the end, when the real story reveals itself in a complete mind meltingly surreal, and "other" manner, do you begin to put the pieces of the what went before together, and see the story that was being told all along.

So not knowing what the hell is going on while it's happening is what burns these events and images into your mind, and the ending, is what causes you to walk around for some time afterward with it in your mind, replaying it, and putting it all together.

In the immediate aftermath of having watched it, I'm not sure if it was something I wanted in my head for a day or so, but later, this gave way to the realisation and appreciation of what a minor masterpiece this actually is, both in it's construction, and execution.

Brilliant acting, great film-making, and very disturbing!

3 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Not a bad film, very atmospheric. Talky rather than all-action.

Segal manages to get where he needs to go and meet the people he needs to meet rather quickly but the film has a finite running time so I suppose that's fair.

Lovely John Barry score, as you'd expect, with a relatively unknown Matt Monro theme song only heard once, briefly and distorted, in the background.

60s Berlin by night and day makes an excellent backdrop and, as mentioned in IMDB, needed little enhancement, with bomb damage still evident.

:happy:

8 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

A charity shop find which turned out to be a little gem. In the same way as Ein Choralbuch Für Johann Sebastian, this compilation alternates between choral settings and organ solos for most of the titles. The Pilz Vienna Master Series is a budget line, without a booklet or any notes, but the recording quality is particularly good; the mastering has a slight bass roll-off which tends to hide the organ pedal stops.

Ppint has added helpful notes about the Pilz label and its distribution through 'remaindered' bookshops: this Pilz series, with CD *** catalogue numbers, may well be specifically for the UK, so the nationality may have to be changed if any further information comes to light.

I would like to know what 1990 release this was licenced from: playback in Win 10 Media Player shows a plain illustration of the famous portrait of JSB, while a search on YouTube or Amazon finds a couple of the dual tracks on a compilation called Die Weihnachtsgeschichte; unfortunately no label is credited, but the video does allow us to hear one very fine Chorale, and the noisy organ mechanism in the unnamed Church.

[YouTube Video]

7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Hooves Of Fire was a Christmas televisual event, much like the Wallace And Gromit animations before it. There's an unwritten rule that a big original Christmas animation needs to be created every year for BBC and Channel 4.

Robbie The Reindeer (voiced by a charismatic Ardal O'Hanlon) is a clumsy, naive reindeer living in the shadow of his father, presumably Rudolph. After being expelled from "The Sleigh Team" for being unfit, he retrains to win back his place on Santa's team.

The animation is Grade-A, stop-motion animation evoking Aardman Animation of the past. It was done by BBC Animation Studios\BBC Bristol and has a very similar style. The voice talent reads like a Whose Who of the time with some future A\B-list talent in the form of Robbie Williams, Steve Coogan and Rhys Ifans. This film tied in with Comic Relief and Sports Relief so there are a lot of references from the obvious "red nose" to Alistair McGowan playing sports commentator Des Yeti (obviously based on Des Lynam).

There's some big laugh out loud moments from Ricky Tomlinson playing a boy-racer Santa Claus who wears gold jewellery and tracksuits, musician Seal as a fish-eating Seal and the Fonzie character, Old Jingle an old, crazy reindeer played by Harry Enfield who sounds a lot like Adrian Edmonson.

Personally for me even at 30 minutes I don't get the same amount of joy watching it as I do The Snowman, Father Christmas, Charlie Brown's Christmas or even The Treacle People Christmas special.

Not shown on UK TV since 2003 according to the Genome project for unknown reasons. This has also stopped it reaching a younger audience, but it is fondly remembered by Millenials and older. A DVD was released as was two sequels of more of the same.

5 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

It's a topic in itself, but a lot of "factual" and "reality", not to mention "comedy" programmes often consist of what would be an excellent 10 minute YouTube video dragged out for an one hour. Maybe attention spans are shorter than they were two decades ago, but The Undateables for me is incredibly slow moving with a recap after every ad break of which there are multiple long ones.

The cynic in me says this is yet another attempt to peer in at the window of humanity and sneer at people who are different. Sadly, all mainstream TV channels are guilty of this. The fact clips of this show have become memes and appeared on "try not to laugh" compilations on YouTube says it all; as does the title.

To sum up, a 10 minute programme dragged out for 45+ minutes is not my idea of a good time. Sally Phillips easy-going voice can't save it for me. Ignoring the offensive factor, it's just tedious.

5 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Being a big Skynyrd fan, I bought this on vivyl as soon as I could lay my hands on it. Lynyrd Skynyrd had a lot of tragedy, - the plane crash, the just before the Rossington Collins Band were to go on tour, Allen Collins' wife suddenly died. There were some British dates earmarked and I was looking forward to seeing them. This album is as good as any of the Lynyrd Skynyrd albums in my opiinion. Every track is excellent and Dale Krantz was in fine voice. I bought this CD in Florida in 1990 and the guy who worked in the record store was a huge Skynyrd fan and I spoke to him about this album and where Dale Krantz had come from as I'd never heard of her. He said that she had been a backing singer only as far as he knew, before joining the Rossington Collins band. A lot of Skynyrd fans were not happy about a woman fronting a band with the remains of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Dale proved them wrong and her vocals on this are excellent. Brilliant Album - In my top ten favourite ablums !!!!

6 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Annotation:

One of my favourite texts of the 1990s was Chet Flippo's biographical novel concerning Hank Williams - an excellent piece of work throughout. This text, however brings Flippo's name somewhat into disrepute, for it is a 400-page clip job from start to finish. Most Beatles fans will recognise entire chunks drafted in from other, more authentic writers such as Norman, Lewisohn, Taylor and Best. Even worse than this, most of the author's 'research' appears to have come from press cuttings featured in the Lewisohn Beatles Live reference work, which would be fair enough if that latter text had been cited - but it was not. The lack of balance within the book is also dreadful. The years between 1963 and 1966 are covered in 14 pages, whereas a second-hand rant about Sgt. Pepper takes up 35 pages. As with most writers concerned with McCartney's musical muse, there is as much about the Beatles in Hamburg as there is Wings. While Flippo can obviously write, this text is merely a litany of unstructured blurb (and who says the song 'Another Day' was about 'domestic bliss'?). Not recommended, I'm afraid.

Michael Brocken

Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here for educational and historical purposes.

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Excellent. Thanks historyofcountrymusic.

Out of curiosity, went to see if there was a video... and found 'The Motor March'.
[YouTube Video]

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Video of Side - B: I'll Never, Never Let You Go.
[YouTube Video]

Nice slow tempo soothing early 50's ballad.

Plus two additional article links. One by VGH website, the other by Marv Goldberg..
https://www.vocalgroupharmony.com/ill_nevr.htm
http://www.uncamarvy.com/Shadows/shadows.html

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I have five Graham Nash solo albums, and this is his best in my opinion. There are some very well crafted songs on this album. In fact they are all good songs with 'Prison Song' the stand out track for me. And so it goes and grave concern run it a close second. I still give this a spin every now and then. I've made some compilation CDs and MP3s for the car and most of the songs here appear somewhere on them.

8 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

A girl, standing in front her boss, asking her not to fire her.

As much as I thought this was going to be a snappy, witty razor sharp comedy (which it is), it turns out this is actually a romantic comedy.... a rom-com.

Except, instead of a boy - girl / man - woman arrangement, and in the traditional sense of “romance” that we're used to, at it’s heart, it’s about the relationship between Emma Thompson’s ageing talk show host anchor, deemed past her prime, and about to lose her show, and the young, optimistic (naïve) Mindy Kaling character, who has ambitions to become a comedy writer for the show, who is hired, it seems, purely for diversity’s sake, and tries to freshen up the show with a new perspective.

And while it is funny, razor sharp, and cracks along in super snappy smart manner, it doesn’t do so at the expense of genuine feeling, and warmth. With some sombre moments underpinning Emma Thompson’s acerbic nature, and a kind of cynicism about modern cynicism (meta-cynicism?) , it’s pretty much as feel good as most other romantic comedies.

6 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

I recently saw this on Amazon Prime. I'm not sure what attracted me to it, but it is much better than I expected.

Underrated actor, Jeremy Piven (David) plays a fairly stereotypical, joke cracking American Dad living in York, England. For the unitiated York is a Roman City with stunning architecture in the North of England. He has a teenage daughter, Jules (played by Olivia-Mai Barrett) who is a bratty 16-year-old teenager into typical things like boys, backchatting and choir singing! David is a widow trying to come to terms with his wife's death and Jules' grades are suffering as a result. Jules has the bright idea of setting him up on a series of dates after making an honest online profile on dating websites.

What surprised me most is this film wasn't light-hearted Christmas bants and fairytale romance. It is quite tragic and emotional in places. Also, for anyone expecting something family friendly there is some swearing (no F words) and some sexual references which aren't suitable for younger children.

The film is carried by believable performances from Piven and Olivia-Mai Barrett. Well known British face, Joely Richardson is also good as David's best friend, Sarah. It starts off a bit slow and annoying, but stick with it. All in all this is an enjoyable, but not exceptional film which is more likely to make you cry than wet your pants with laughter.

6 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Probably the best time travel movie I've seen.

...And in my view destined (pre-destined???) to become, if it isn't already, a cult classic in the sci-fi genre.

And that's because this is not trying to be, and isn't an "action adventure" type if time travel movie, which usually use that device as a means to some other end, such as to provide thrills and spills etc. Whereas this is a more philosophical drama style of movie... a "talky" movie, who's end, and subject is time, and time travel itself... The characters are there to serve that end.

The plot begins something something like a bad joke:

"A guy walks into a bar...."

...And then strikes up a conversation with the barkeep, and the discussion unfolds, as the "guy" relates an ever increasingly improbable tale, or so it seems, about his life story.

From there, revelations are made, and by degrees through means of flash backs, the plot ratchets up through the gears, revealing a very twisty journey through time.

So a lot depends on Sarah Snook, and Ethan Hawke, and their exchanges, and both, especially Snook, act the be-Jeezus out of this, with top notch performances.

In the end, this film is about the logic of time travel, a point which most, if not all time travel movies very quickly come unstuck, especially when they try to justify themselves through exposition, or try to treat it in the sense of the physics as possible, and real.... Movies like Back To The Future succeed by not picking too hard at that scab, and recognising that time travel is just a device to serve the action / adventure storyline.

...So very quickly, such movies that try too hard reveal plot and logic holes you could drive a Delorean through :)

This, plot wise, and logic wise, is almost perfect, even if the physics are still a little speculative and unlikely.

The drama, twists, and the mindbending implications of the logic are spot on.

If it is an action / adventure / Thriller style sci-fi you are after, like Looper or Tenet, or something else with loud explosions and rooftop chases and such (Terminator(s)), then you will be disappointed with this, but if you prefer a more cerebral time travel movie that isn't simply trying purposely and expressly cook your nut (Tenet), then you will enjoy the steady pace of this excellently thought out movie.

3 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

I can't believe this film wasn't on here. It's arguably the most famous "modern" A Christmas Carol adaptation. It was hugely successful at the box office and on home video; largely due to having the clout of Disney behind it. Back in the day when I had Disney VHS tapes there was often a trailer for this "coming soon to Home Video".

Michael Caine for some reason was seen as a weird choice for Scrooge, maybe because he was best known for playing comedic nice guys in the 80s. His playboy roles (Alfie, The Italian Job) and the tough guy (Get Carter, The Eagle Has Landed) were also a recent memory for viewers in 1992. He turned out to be an inspired choice for the role turning in an incredibly charismatic, but also in places scarily mean character. The songs in this film are good and memorable. There's some genuine laughs for people of all ages: "light the lamp, not the rat". The sets and costumes are also first rate. The ghosts in this are also surprisingly frightening for a kid's film.

This film is now regarded as a classic with a cult following. Its legacy long lasting and it gets a cinema re-release every few years. After having praised this film it has to be said sitting in a sweaty theater with 30 and 40-somethings singing along to the songs at high volume, possibly even dressed-up as muppets is my personal vision of hell on earth. Muppets indeed.

4 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Σπουδαίος ανθρωπος σε μικροψυχες εποχες. Άβε Άσιμε! Σε χαιρετουν οι συντροφοι του Τοτε!

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Surreal rom-com noir.

I have been hearing about this increasingly over the years, and always intended to see what the buzz was about.

A couple of things put me off though, principally Adam Sandler... who's name induces cringes in me, as I really do not like his usual comedic style, or the films he tends to be in.

The other thing being that the "buzz" was a very kind of low level one, so I just kept of forgetting about it. So I was pleasantly surprised when the DVD turned up in the charity shop the other week, when I went to buy a stack of DVDs and books in anticipation of the next lockdown.

It's strange... damn strange!

And probably all the better for it, as it has a bizarre, unsettling quality in the film-making style that subverts the romantic comedy basis of the plot.

Sandler's character is a lonely, messed up, angst ridden, paranoid (certainly mentally ill) "entrepreneur" who works out of an industrial unit in the middle of some drab, nowhere town, and who's hobbies include collecting free air miles tokens from puddings in supermarkets, in bulk, and generally getting fixated and obsessive with things, as well as evading the attempts of his many sisters trying to set him up with a date, or at the very least, pull him out of himself and be more sociable...

...And so one of the women introduced to him: Emily Watson, inexplicably comes to like him, and want to go out with him, in spite of his apparent lack of interest, inappropriate social responses, unpredictably excessive behaviours, and generally insular, festering nature.

In the background is this bizarre and nightmarish sub-plot that develops when he phones a sex line one evening when he feels particularly lonely, and then becomes the subject of a campaign of spiralling persecution and victimisation by the woman he was talking to, and the whoever she is working for.

It all makes for a distinctly uneasy, claustrophobic experience, which is further enhanced by these kind of Rothko inspired art-installation type interludes / transition films, and the clunky, odd, and dissonant, and non-musical random noise soundtrack, which can induce you, the viewer to feel like you're half nuts yourself, or getting there!

Not the kind of film you'd usually associate with anyone in the cast, or even the director, Paul Thomas Anderson....

...It's more the feel of a Charlie Kaufman scripted, Michel Gondry / Spike Jonze directed affair, perhaps inspired by a dystopian Franz Kafka paranoia novel.

So think: Being John Malkovich, Enternal Sunshine Of the Spotless Mind, Synecdoche New York, The Trial, plus one of your own, more low key, disturbing nightmares, and you're in the ballpark of where this is coming from.

And finally, it comes to talking about Adam Sandler... because he for once, gives a very compelling, subtle, understated, brooding, twitchy, oppressed and introverted performance that it turns out he's really rather good at, and which was needed to sell this film, if it was to succeed.

In all, this Noir-ish surreal rom-com is a refreshing change in subverting the usual rom-com ideas, even if it is nuts, and for that, you will probably either like it, or absolutely hate it, but I don't think this is ever going to be an all time favourite of anyone's... more a cult-classic / semi mythical movie hat will be spoken of in certain circles occasionally as being a benchmark of what the possibilities are within that genre, at least.... It's influence probably exceeds it's excellence, but for that reason, worth watching at least once in your life.

6 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Here's a film which is rarely talked about, often ignored in favour of other snow covered Neo Noir's: Fargo (undoubtedly a better film) and A Simple Plan (arguably a better film).

A small town cop uncovers a web of corruption after a man mysteriously dies in a hunting accident. What he finds absolutely breaks him.

I'm a big fan of films that are "the American dream gone wrong"; Sunset Blvd being the epitome. Nick Nolte gives a phenomenal performance as the seemingly nice guy cop (Wade Whitehouse) who depending on which way you look at it either becomes corrupt or just broken by a system he can't control. For me the stand-out performance is James Coburn as Wade's alcoholic, bullying father, for which he won an academy award for best supporting actor. A role turned down by James Garner and Paul Newman because they thought the character was too mean. Also credit to William Defoe being cast against type and playing the laidback, academic brother and not his usual sinister bad guy.

Affliction came out before incredibly dumbed-down movies became de rigueur for Hollywood. Affliction is highly regarded, but often overlooked. It is dialogue heavy and slow moving with a down beat ending. Audiences have become more intelligent, but Hollywood feels the need to spoonfeed us obvious plots with characters with as much depth as a gnat's urine sample. Affliction is a genuinely deep character study with existential themes typical of Paul Schrader. In a year of great films: Fargo, Secrets & Lies, Lone Star and Sling Blade Affliction still deserved more of a look. Trust me it's better than Shine, Emma and The English Patient.

2 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?