Hazelwoc

A difficult episode for many English to watch. If you are American imagine this played out by republicans and a Mexican. Contrary to that which many Englishmen might want to believe this was however not a political statement. Politics is only a mirror of the defining forces within a country at any one time.

The banality and self satisfying smugness of the key players was a joy to watch. Their combined ignorance fueled by spite ire resentment and jealously cascading them to a conclusion that they neither cared about nor understood.

In the end this episode stood out like a mundane episode from the league of gentlemen.

This is were the true horror lies, when life in England imitates art.

The film itself is great, but I gave it a ten because the intro is one of the best that I have ever seen - it just sums everything up about what is best about being human - including WTF - I wish I had done that....

I really don't know which is worse - poor Jodie trying to do random impressions of all the past doctors like a 10 year girl trying to impress her older siblings or a fragmented story line about a very important part of Indian history which fails to elaborate on Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. Why not go back 2000 years and concentrate on some people getting nailed to a cross and not mention Jesus. I know we have new hands on deck but it would be helpful if they stop messing about and concentrate on what they should be doing before Doctor Who sinks without a trace.

In a way Ricky is around 40 years too late, his comedy is blunt, forceful and controversial, and comparisons with someone like Peter Cook are not misplaced.

Underneath the awkward exterior lies a thoughtful and angry man. Which for comedy is good. Invariably and ironically some people will miss the point of this show. He is using the vehicle of comedy to illustrate that our opinions and beliefs which lead us to laugh or be offended vary from person to person.

It is this which is the basis for our humanity because it governs who we are and what we do. This show is not about him but about his audience, and if it makes us think a little about who we are then all the better.

I met Simon Hunter at Raindance when I was learning film making and we talked a bit about this film. The money shots were expensive and took up a lot of the budget, this should have been a cheaper film. Simon has a friend called Jake West, who made the cult classic Razor blade smile on a budget of £20K, incidentally using the same actor as the baddie, If you are interesting in the art of film making then check it out. True lighthouse does have higher production values, but is not as much fun. I liked Simon, he is a competent film-maker, but I think that given his budget he could have done better. The story about a crashed prison ship on a remote lighthouse Island could have been a good thriller, but as a premise for a slasher movie its a bit of a waste. Think Key Largo as a great example of that genre. A story of a prison van breaking down in remote Scotland with the action set in and around the odd bothy would have have been cheaper, more convenient and could have allowed for a more relaxed shooting schedule, higher shooting ratio, and a better edited end film. As it is it is neither a good thriller or slasher movie. Pity.

The father thing is a reoccurring theme, not only in PK dick, but also in most peoples changing cognitive viewpoint as they grow out of childhood.

There reaches a point in our lives when we see our parents as others do. Just people trying to get on in a complicated world, with all the failings of human frailty. And yeah, its a scary time, and suddenly parents do seem like aliens, but that is to do with ourselves, not our parents. It is us that are changing not them.

The father thing is therefore not about aliens taking over people. That is a theme of other films such as body snatchers, which in itself is a metaphor for the worlds' tangled cold war relations at the time when it was written.

As a tv program the father is thing ok - really nothing special - as a representation of the actual story that it claims it is based on - it - to use common American teenage parlance - sucks.

Seriously, I came into this film having not watched a star wars film for years. After about ten minutes, I had absolutely no idea what was going on and quite frankly did not care. How anyone can watch such utter shameless drivel is beyond me, so unless you are part of the depressingly large cult of star wars addicts I strongly advise you to spend your time on something substantially more worthwhile - like watching paint dry for instance.

Probably (alongside the lady eve) the best farce film ever made.

The whole film descending into sublime chaos concluding into probably the greatest car chase ever screened.

And just when you thought you are going to have some respite - a brilliant court room scene just before the end seals this film as the classic it is. Liam Dunn (also in Young Frankenstein) stealing the laughs as the put upon judge.

Add into the mix Madeline Khan as the control freak from hell, a bewildered Ryan O Neal and a precocious but disarming Barbra Streisand and you have in the hands of the great Peter Bogdanovich one of the truly great films of the 70s

This is how you do comedy..

Fun fact is that give or take a few days I am the same age as Banderas.

I know exactly what it means to be dragged off on holiday to someplace where its cold in July when all I want is to stay in my chair. I love my chair. When you are a has been or in my case a never been, these things are important.

Anyway back to the film. I loved it.

Firstly - it is very funny, was very clever and the cast clearly loved making it. Simon West has a real way with actors and always gets the best out of them.

Secondly - it does not take itself too seriously. If I got conned into seeing yet another star trek or star wars or harry potter film where the actors earnestly deliver their lines with all the pomposity of a ham reciting a scene out of Macbeth, I swear my sternum is going to leap out of my back and gorge my eyes out.

Thirdly - this is going to be a cult film. Do yourself a favour, watch it a few times with that in mind, and in a few years time you can say - yeah - course it got panned at the time but I knew it was going to be a cult film...

So 10/10 - not because its a perfect film, but because its good despite the handicaps that a director has in making such a film. No one could have done better.